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COMING OF AGE

Urbano Tangonan's Role models

His role models as products of the Ateneo, of which he was so proud of having been one of its worthy teaching staff for so many years before he retired:

1. Raul Manglapus from Tagudin Ilocos Sur. He was very active to the organization and running of the Christian Democratic Party of the Philippines until he succumbed to the big C. This very brilliant intellectual, the epitome of the Renaissance Man, used his God given talents for the benefit of others. Retirement never meant inactivity or idleness for this gifted man.
2. Jose Rizal the Hero of the Filipino Nation and the Pride of the Malay Race. It was his conception of the Philippines as a Nation. This idea was agitating in his mind, struggling for expression as he prepared to participate in a contest in poetry managed by a society of literary men, while studying at the Ateneo and at the Santo Thomas University, where he also studied medicine. He dedicated his poem "To the Filipino Youth" under the motto, "Grow, O Timid Flower", and secured the prize, consisting of a silver pen. The intellectual position of the Spaniards did not look with favor among themselves, this idea that the Philippines was the motherland of the Filipinos. But this new inspiration was to burn in his soul all his life, making their No. 1 among all its heroes, with a monument in every town plaza of more than fifteen thousand municipalities all over the land! In fact, he has also monuments in other counties, like those in Germany and in Spain.

Among Artemio's Role Models

Among our own people and those of other countries among his idols of the greats:

1. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as the Liberator of the Philippines in World War II
   For which he became a Philippine and American Veteran. Artemio was the first to inform his brother Dionisio that the Battle of Leyte Gulf resulted in one of the great naval battles of modern times and a part of which was fought within the waters of Romblon and with support of bombers and fighters planes over the northwestern part of Sibuyan Sea, northeast of Tablas Island, on October 24, 1944. A day or two before the entire people of the province witness the dropping of MacArthur's return with his oft quoted "I SHALL RETURN" and now his "I HAVE RETURNED."
   MacArthur's return also ushered the birth of second daughter, Aracelie, born on December 27, 1944, and for which he had a special liking for her having married a promising son of a military son of a Colonel in the Army.
   Like his brother Dionisio, he was also a lover of books on the great religions, including the occult and reincarnaticn, and that even Jesus of the Bible believed in reincarnation. He had also a particular penchant on philosophy and the great reformers of history.
2. Manuel L. Quezon as the greatest champion of Philippine Independence, with his famed quote, "A government run like hell by Filipinos is better than a government run like heaven by Americans."
   He was born on August 19, 1878 in Baler, Tayabas. He was the son of Lucio Quezon and Maria Molina and studied at San Juan de Letran and the University of Santo Tomas. In 1939, he was appointed Resident Commissioner to the U.S. He obtained for the Philippines the surrender of all legislative rights to Filipinos by the creation of the Philippine Senate in 1916; and the solemn pledge of independence for the Philippines by the U.S. Congress. On his return he became the first President of the Philippine Senate and in 1935 he was elected first President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines. At the outbreak of the Pacific War, he headed the Philippine government in exile in the U.S. He died at a sanitarium on Saranac Lake, New York on August 1, 1944. As a symbol of respect for President Quezon they caused that his remains to be buried at Arlington Cemetery, where only American heroes lie. A year after the liberation of the Philippines by General MacArthur, the remains of the Late President were brought over to our shores on the U.S. Carrier, the USS Princeton, escorted by his personal friend, Justice Frank Murphy. On the second anniversary of his death, a grateful nation buried him with State honors this time in his beloved native land.

Dionisio Tangonan's Role Models

1. Camilo Osias - The Epitome of the Genuine Ilocano (GI)
   His many qualifications: First Filipino/Division Superintendent; First president, National University, Manila; Former Philippine Resident Commissioner to the U.S.; Delegate to the Philippine Constitutional Convention; and Author of many books, one of which he considers the best is "The Filipino Way of Life."
   His said books is one of Dionisio's private library that propelled him to pursue and climb the educational ladder, both public and private.
   The succeeding paragraphs are selected excerpts from his said book in relation to its practical applications in education.
   • "The culture and civilization of a people at any given time consist of the sum total of its wealth of knowledge and experience. The totality of the accumulated experience of the race conditions the march of civilization and materially affects the future orientation of that people."
   • "Culture and civilization are complex things. They are made up of the sentiments and thoughts, the customs and mores, the traditions and aspirations of a people. They consist of the sum total of racial inheritance. It is the business of education to preserve and, if possible, to enrich civilization. This it does by selecting from the wealth of racial experience those things that are deemed worthwhile to perpetuate, and seeking to transmit them from generation to generation, and so effect an intelligent reconstruction of the social order."
2. In closing on the life of my co-Ilocano Idol among those who have truly matured and come of age, let me share a few more brief excerpts of Chapter XVII, entitled, "Ideals Beckon!", as follows:
   • Ideals are the patrimony of all. They have a universality which is in keeping with the conception of a pluralized universe.
   • The present is the time of all times to hold out the beacon light of ideals to a darkened and confused world. It is a sad and frightful commentary on the human race to come down the high prance of civilization and peace to the low level of barbarism and war. It is precisely in times of great confusion and peril that it is necessary to embrace a sound philosophy that will lift us up from the abysmal depths and goad individuals and nations on to a higher and more ethereal level of well being.
   • Six hundred years before Christ, Lao Tzu gave this sound advice: "Temper your sharpness, disentangle your ideas, moderate your brilliance, live in harmony with your age." It was the same ancient sage who said, "He who strikes with a sharp point will not himself be safe for long."
3. Camilo Osias, as Dionisio's Role Model of the matured or fulfilled life, might as well represent all his many other role models, to give way for those of Emilio and Irene;

Emilio Tangonan's Role Models

1. Diego Silang
   the man who led the Ilocano uprising, was raised in the parish of Vigan, Ilocos Sur. It was there that he witnessed the pitiful conditions of the people. He saw many atrocities committed by the Spaniards against the poor folks. He saw unhappiness everywhere, brought about by Spanish tyranny.
   Driven by a burning desire to help his people, Diego organized a small army against the Spaniards. His army began to grow so big, his greatness as a military leader became so well known, that the Spaniards soon realized that treachery was needed to defeat him. A man who pretended to be his friend shot him in the back. His wife Gabriela, took over as commander of his army, but she was soon caught and hanged in Abra.
2. Antonio Luna
   General Antonio Luna, the great Filipino soldier of the Revolution, was the brother of Juan Luna, the famous painter. They are from Badoc, Ilocos Norte, just four (4) kilometers from Santa Cruz, Sinait, Ilocos Sur where the Tangonans lived but Antonio Luna was born in Manila on October 29, 1863. He studied how to be a good soldier in Germany. He finished his studies as such when his country needed his special services very much. He became the Secretary of War during the short lived Philippine Republic. Without the equipment and arms against the strong American forces, he nearly lost his life in the battle of La Loma but he did not surrender. He died in Nueva Ecija on June 17, 1899, due to the treachery of his personal enemies.

Irene Impelido Tangonan's Role Models

In Dionisio's last visit of their sisters's family in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte in 1999, Irene told Dionisio that among the big celebrations of the capital town of Laoag City commemorating the birth of a great and beloved son of Ilocos Norte patriot, statesman and hero of our time as depicted by former Governor Justo O. Orros, Jr.

Here are a few excerpts of his speech, delivered on August 9, 1999: (He was referring to the late, Roque Blanco Ablan,Sr.)

In closing he quoted the eminent poet and Philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson in his memorable lines:

In Ilocano:

Irene is so bible oriented she would usually avoid naming so called role models or idols, other than Bible characters. Among her favorite verses from the Bible is Ephesians 3:20: "God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us."

This is amply explained and illustrated in Jacq Valencia's article, entitled "A Thrival Perspective in the New Century" in the March 5, 2000 issue of Philippine Panorama, from which the following lines are excerpted: