The Oscars for public service

Apollo Quiboloy, the self-anointed son of God, must be rolling over with laughter. Unlike him, Alice Guo, who allegedly escaped in the dead of night on a speed boat just like in a spy movie, is back after being caught by Indonesian authorities.

Quiboloy, on the other hand, is still in hiding, despite the fact that his flock’s compound in Davao is surrounded by hundreds of policemen in full battle gear. Alice, too, must be laughing at us, because for someone facing criminal complaints in the Philippines, she’s actually getting the celebrity treatment – selfies, hilarious poses, a private jet for her ride home and a warm welcome. You’d think she won the Olympics.

What a joke. Our nation of 119 million just keeps getting more surreal by the day. Truly, we’ve become a bizarre wonderland for Alice and others like her who are facing criminal complaints.

It’s a challenge perhaps for every Filipino not to lose faith in our public servants – policemen, soldiers and teachers, for example.

Filipinos, as always, resort to humor when the going gets tough. There’s a photoshopped photo of Quiboloy, dressed in Baroque-era fashion, going around with a caption: “Quiboloy to Alice: Amateur.”

Sadly, the joke is on us, the taxpayers. Our money is being wasted on officials who end up either coddling fugitives or are simply too incompetent to catch those who violate the law.

While ordinary Filipinos fall in line for hours just to get through our Immigration counters at the airport and not before filling up those useless eTravel forms, the rich and notorious can just slip past our borders, whether by land, sea or air, just like in the movies.

If we aren’t a failed state yet, there clearly exists a parallel, deep state where anything goes.

True public servants

But hope is eternal. It’s etched in my heart like a tattoo and last week, I was reminded of this again as I witnessed the conferment ceremony of ten outstanding public servants – teachers, policemen and soldiers – this year’s Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos.

At the ceremony held Wednesday night at the glittering ballroom of Grand Hyatt Manila, it was an honor for me to witness their moment of glory, which may well be the Oscars for public service.

I had already written about them before but Wednesday’s conferment was extra special because it was the culmination of their journey as they stood on stage to receive their P1-million cash prize, a golden medallion and the iconic “The Flame” trophy, with their loved ones as witnesses.

The 2024 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos are the following:

Teachers Ma. Ella Fabella of Zamboanga City; Franco Apoyon of Zamboanga Sibugay; Decibel Faustino-Eslava from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños in Laguna and Maria Regina Hechanova-Alampay, professor at Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City;

Soldiers Capt. Salvador Sambalilo of the Philippine Navy; Major Ron Villarosa of the Philippine Army and staff sergeant Michael Rayanon, also of the Philippine Navy;

Police officers Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Bernardino of Sultan Kudarat; police Major Mark Ronan Balmaceda of the National Capital Regional Police Office in Taguig City and police Staff Sergeant Llena Sol-Josefa Jovita of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Office.

They all join a roster of esteemed awardees. Dr. George Ty started the program in 1985, which has since recognized 715 outstanding public servants, including 384 teachers, 172 soldiers and 159 police officers.

Congratulations to the Ty brothers, Arthur and Alfred, and to Aniceto Sobrepeña, president of Metrobank Foundation and his team for another year of successful conferment.

The ceremony was as prestigious as the award itself with the gracious hosts, the Ty brothers, themselves giving the warm welcome to distinguished guests.

On the sidelines

I had a nice chat with UP Los Baños Chancellor Jose Camacho Jr., who led the UPLB contingent to support one of the teacher awardees, UPLB’s Faustino-Eslava.

I also spotted former UP president Emerlinda Roman and the guest of honor, newly appointed Education Secretary Sonny Angara. There were also dozens of distinguished men and women of the Armed Forces and the police force.

Metrobank Foundation trustees and advisers were present, too, including The STAR’s president and CEO Miguel Belmonte and retired justice Artemio Panganiban. From the media, InsiderPH’s Dax Lucas and Miguel Camus were there too.

The Final Board of Judges, chaired by Senator Mark Villar and co-chaired by Supreme Court Associate Justice Maria Filomena Singh, also graced the event, except for former Presidential Communications Office Secretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil.

Members of the panel were Pasig City Congressman Roman Romulo, Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte, San Beda University rector-president Rev. Fr. Aloy Maranan and yours truly.

I was happy to share the table with Fr. Aloy and Maria Anthonette Velasco-Allones, outgoing undersecretary of the Department of Migrant Workers. We talked about hope in our country and faith.

There at the conferment ceremony, I reminded myself that while our systems may seem impossibly flawed, there are many Filipinos who work tirelessly to make our country better.

This means that while we may sometimes lose faith in our institutions, we can pin our hopes on the individuals who strive to do better.

Thus, impossible as it may seem, Filipinos can change the system, one step at a time, whether one is a teacher, a soldier, a police or whatever one may be – for as long as there is that burning desire to make a difference.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.