March 29, 2024

(ERRATUM: par 8, line 1, in last week’s issue should instead read, AND LINGUISTS HAVE etc. Sorry po).
DITOY KABANBANTAYAN TRANSLATES our title today in Baguio Iluko and =int (equals by interpretation): Baguio-Benguet; if extended, the Southern Cordi; if yet maximized, the Cordi and its peripheries. Yes, that’s our in ‘these Heights’.
TODAY, LET’S EXPLORE one aspect of Success in ‘these Heights’ – the aspect of making one’s name publicly s.h.i.n.e. and last, too.
[“OH, REALLY?” SAYS spontaneously the Filipino speaker – perhaps really meaning it; or, out of his/her ‘habit of’ (totally-adopted) Expression]. We say:
YES, WE’RE SAYING: in ‘these Heights’, whether your (family) name has been that highly-regarded in the previous scores or decades; or, it has started to be so since recent times; or, it is yet unknown virtually [since you are the awaited one ‘destined’ to champion it in later times], you – and everybody else wanting or wishing same, can succeed (Hiatus: say “Naturally!”, please).. to make it shinest.. and later bequeath your ensues the legacy of the name! How? And we answer:
BEGIN WITH TAKING up a course – which has afforded many a successful men and woman that public Shine and Splendor in the recent and distant Past. So, what Course may you start with?
TRY BSEED (IT used to be first: ETC or Elementary Teacher’s Certificate, two years; now, BSEED starting). And
YOU LAND AS an Elementary School Teacher; then, Head Teacher; then, Principal; and finalemént: you retire!
AFTER YOU RETIRE – some couple of years before or so, there’ll be folks flooding your house to convince you: “Please run.. Pan run ka ga, for Councilor; or, Vice-Mayor; or even, Mayor; or Board Member?” et cetera.
OF COURSE, YOU’LL have the ‘tendency’ to humbly decline: ‘No, not yet! Or, ‘I’m sorry I can’t.’ or, ‘Please better ask (you give a name-alternate), and so forth. But later,
DESTINED, NAI PALAD – as what people say, you found yourself one of the aspirants.. and, neophyte you were though, you won! Hurrah!


ANOTHER STORY: THAT of Apo Timothy Eckang. He took up Law, and later passed the Bar. Folks say he used to take pride saying he passed the Exam without having to go attend those Review classes. Further, that his ‘passing Average was higher’ than those – in his time – who got elected to high offices. But, anyway
SUCCESS TOO, HE got. He was elected Board Member; he was elected Municipal Mayor. He could have been Congressman next, but he’s gone to the beyond. He’s now in Heaven, GRHS (God rest his soul).


OR, TAKE UP Engineering. Two cases, we know: One, who was elected Mayor; then, Congressman; then again: Mayor, etcetera; and another, who was elected Governor.. that is, directly after retiring from government service and officialdom. He didn’t have to pass through those series of “Steps” – like first, a Barangay Captain or Kagawad; then next, a Municipal Councilor; then Vice-Mayor; etc., up-the-line.
THERE’S ONE IN current observation. He is a Geodetic Engineer. He was consecutively elected as a City Councilor – three times. Then, he ran for Vice-Mayor, but he lost. And then, he ran for Councilor again last Election and he is now (again) a Councilor. Time will tell which position he’ll get himself successfully elected into in the future. Next case,


BEGIN AS YOU would another venture: with or without any ‘capital’ – so to say.
IF YOUR NAME had been successfully applauded before – courtesy (or courtesies) of predecessor(s) related to you, directly or indirectly, well and good: at least you have an ‘edge’ over your co-aspirants, to start with. But
IF YOUR NAME, has seldom (or never) been heard before – like you’re starting ‘from Scratch’, must you worry so?
NEIN!, NIEMALS! (“No, never!”) says the German of Contemporary Times, because: “Everybody is potential, and chances are not constant!”
MEANING – IF NOT implying: you’re at par with anybody in the Contest. After all, you’re all qualified, aren’t you?


LET ME SHARE you briefly this story. It is the sharing of one who never got himself into the line of ‘trust-public’ or appointment.
HE LANDED HIS job by applying himself, sans endorsement nor recommendation(s) from higher-ups. Faithfully doing his duties for the required number of years, he is now a happy retiree.
BUT EACH TIME, we chance by and have a short Coffee-talk, we sometimes dwell on his ‘special case’:
HE BELONGS TO a big, well-known clan; and his family name has been a favoured one in local politics. But each time he is introduced,
“IT LOOKS LIKE people tend to attribute the rise..” of his clan or family to one senior member who secured the highest position in the Past.. when there are other things supposed to be taken into account before that, e.g. he, of a more junior generation, was the recognized and first wielder of a Line Agency position prior, etcetera.
BUT YES! WHY not, we can conclude: that in ‘these Heights’, many men and women indeed begin from their own Initiatives and Labour. They’re self-made! Aloha, folks!