Solicited Message on Secretary Leonor Briones’ Book Launch and Birthday

16 October 2020

I was engaged to The Star of All Seasons when Ma’am Liling, the Teacher for All Seasons, came into my life.

I have since been mentored by these two great ladies in a continuing education program, of which there will be no end.

Vi’s forte is how to conduct oneself in the public spotlight. Ma’am Liling’s is about public administration.

How to acquire a mandate is Vi’s expertise. And if you win, Ma’am Liling is the authority on how to exercise that mandate.

But while my in-house tutor in stagecraft is strict, my teacher in statecraft is more liberal, and like mentors who inspire and incite, has a way of making you feel special.

So whenever we meet, she will announce in a loud voice for everyone to hear, that I was her favorite student, which flatters me to no end.

Only later did I know that I share that distinction with many. She has thousands of other favorites.

And today she has 24 million favorite students, each one of whom, in her words, is “mahalaga.”

A teacher for more than half a century, she’s handling the hardest subject for last. She’s holding a masterclass on how schooling must continue for millions of young people during the greatest disruption in educational history.

Ang sabi niya sa akin, “This pandemic will result in the loss of lives, but the greatest tragedy is the lost generation it may produce.”

Believe me, we shall overcome, because the teacher in charge at the helm was made-to-order for a crisis like this.

Saan ko hinugot ang ganitong paniniwala? During her CA confirmation, I told my colleagues that if you distill her impressive CV into what her major callings would be, if you could put a brand to the person, you’d come up with two: Liling the Academic, and Liling the Activist.

I am reminded of this as I read somewhere recently that “governing well requires not only technocratic expertise but also civic virtue”, that in forging policy, academic theories are as important as the experience of the common tao.

But in debating that sweet spot, one should do it civilly, which is Ma’am Liling’s signature behavior, whether she’s in the civil service or in civil society.

If she disagrees with you, she won’t mince words in ripping apart your arguments, she will not, however, tear your friendship to pieces.

I have been asked to suggest a title for a book on her life. Wala akong maisip na tutugma to this great lady of many splendored talents.

Siguro “A Teacher for All Seasons”. But how formulaic! Pero malay mo, baka pumayag si Sister Stella L. na gumawa ng pelikula sa buhay at pakikibaka ni Secretary L.

O baka “To Sing Her Own Song”, partly because she is a Carnegie Hall-level soprano, but more after the famous quote of Pepe Diokno, with whom she had fought in the trenches, whose dream of “building a nation for our children, where they will sing their own songs” is this nation’s unfinished business.

Happy birthday to my one and only favorite teacher, from one of your “unli” favorite students.