Ho y Cruz

What does it profit a university to confer an honorary degree on a gambling mogul, supposedly one of the world’s richest men, who figured in the previous disgraced administration’s aborted move to raise the gambling culture and addiction of this country notches higher? Pray tell, what message does this convey to the young graduates?

To the board of trustees of the Angeles University Foundation (AUF), may I say this in Filipino—dinuraan ninyo ang mga graduates ninyo, binastos ninyo sila. You spat on them, you dishonored them. You will go down in history as the educational institution that gifted its graduates with this ultimate insult. Doctor of humanities, anyone?

Cara y cruz? One does not know which way this gambling country goes. Heads I win, tails you lose--seems to be the dictating rule in the losing battle against gambling lords and their academic fans. Ah, but every once in a while a voice rises above the din to cry, ``Wrong.’’ That is the voice of Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Pangasinan.

A few days to Holy Week and a gambling mogul (lord, king, baron, czar) from Hong Kong and an anti-gambling archbishop and canon lawyer, figure in front-page news. This was over the conferment of a university honorary degree on the gambling lord and the archbishop’s protest and return of his own honorific title.

A few days ago, AUF in Angeles City, Pampanga laid out the red carpet for the 80-ish Stanley Ho to give him a honorary doctorate degree. He came aboard his private jet that landed at the Clark Special Economic Zone. He was met by supposed presidential adviser on foreign investments Dan Roleda who supposedly came aboard a government helicopter. Inquirer Northern Luzon Bureau’s Tonette Orejas took the photo of that airport meeting. Never heard of Roleda, Malacanang quickly reacted, suggesting that the man in the photo might not be Roleda.

But Roleda or no Roleda, the fact is, this Ho is now the toast of a Pampanga academic community.

Three years ago, Ho floated in with his phantasmagoric casino-restaurant into Manila Bay and into the Estrada administration. The casino never got to operate, thanks to the protests, but it remained docked near the Cultural Center complex for a long time (I think it’s still there) perhaps waiting for the right wind to blow.

The suggestion that Ho might have added to the campaign chests of politicians is certainly an issue but that has yet to be proven. But what AUF did say was that Ho was ``involved in other philanthropic, civic and service-oriented undertakings.’’

Jesus H. Christ, this country is teeming with unsung and unrecognized individuals who selflessly work for this woebegone country, and AUF had to look to other shores for a casino king for an honoree?

What indeed are those ``philanthropic, civic and service-oriented undertakings’’ of Ho that earned him the unanimous approval of the AUF board? Note unanimous. Note too that the current chair of the AUF board is Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto. One of the trustees is Diosdado Macapagal Jr., the President’s brother.

Arhcbishop Cruz, Aniceto’s predecessor and himself an AUF honorary degree recipient, sent back his citation in protest. He was not questioning AUF’s honoring Ho, he said, he just did not want to belong to the same league. Cruz, former head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines now heads the bishops’ anti-gambling campaign.

If I were Cruz, so as not to be labeled pharisaical, I would have said it the other way around. Like, ``I can’t do anything about the fact that AUF put me and Ho in the same company, but I do protest that AUF would honor him in front of thousands of young graduates.’’

I don’t think Cruz is being pharisaical. You know that parable about the pharisee and the publican where the pharisee deems himself clean and sinless before God and looks down on the sinners. Now be careful about turning around that parable to coddle evil doers and to mock those who uphold what is right. Jesus dined with sinners, yes, but he did not tell them, yeah, you’re cool. He had a scathing mouthful for the incorrigible, like ``brood of vipers’’ and ``whitened sepulchers’’.

I note with frustration how people who do immense good sometimes don’t want to be recognized or talk about what they’ve accomplished. Is that false humility or what? Afraid they might be called mayabang? And so the corrupt strut about smelling like roses, shout on the house tops and advertise what they have accomplished through their illegally-earned money. Foundations here, foundations there.

Last January when I interviewed former Pres. Cory Aquino for a feature piece, she brought up the need for more stories about the good people who are doing their part out there to serve their fellow Filipinos. I couldn’t agree more. As a journalist, I would admit that I have a nose for the rotten, and that’s fine, but I also do have an eye for little shining spots and the hidden glow of heroism.

Right now I know of three book projects that aim to provide more inspiring real-life stories for the young and the not so young, stories about the great deeds of Filipinos and other Asians. Yes, I am doing my bit for those projects, and yes, this eats into my weekends.

A theology professor was shocked to find out how her students (mostly religious) knew so little about the events of two, three decades ago and the heroism of some of the best and the brightest who fell in the night or risked their lives so that others may live. ``Many of them have no clue,’’ she gasped.

Don’t serve them Ho. Ho who?