A Pinoy war hero in America - A Voice From America

_{Where were you in March 1940? That was before the start of World War II. I surmise that most of the STAR readers, like this writer, were not yet even born!}

_{That month, exactly three scores ago, the elite Philippine Military Academy, the West Point of the Philippines, produced its very first graduates. Among them is a retired Commodore of the Philippine Navy, Ramon A. Alcaraz, almost 85 years old, who happens to be an esteemed friend and one of my many estate tax and financial planning clients here in Orange County, California. Filipinos who have read Philippine history through the 1960s would recognize his name as he was the last Commodore of the Philippine Navy before President Marcos fired him on January 12, 1966, barely a week after he assumed the presidency.}

_{Like many in my generation, I first heard his name in grade school as all students were expected to know all the important names in the Philippine government. In a feudal-like society as the Philippines, never in my wildest imagination did I ever dream that I would meet him, much less become a trusted friend here in America. Privileged to know him well gives me mixed feelings of joy and sadness. Joy because through his verbal narrations, I am witnessing the glorious past of my homeland, the Perlas ng Silangan, from the time of Rizal in the late 1800s to the early l960s, when the Commodore was still a mover and shaker of the Philippine military landscape. Sadness because in the pragmatic side of my brain (not my idealistic and optimistic side which often prevails) I still cannot see the Philippines going back to the idealism and stature of our grandparents' generation 40 to 60 years ago. Commodore Alcaraz' generation (like the generation of Rizal, Bonifacio and Aguinaldo) is leaving us a great vacuum of moral and ethical leadership. The nation's leadership during the Commodore's generation and that of Max Soliven's father, the former Assemblyman and WW II Major Benito Soliven from Santo Domingo, Ilocos Sur, is quite different than the leadership of today. Honor and reputation were paramount to one's family's name.}

_{That vanishing generation believes and lives the old-fashioned values of honor and delicadeza. Wealth without honor did not exist then. In the Philippines political scene today, unexplained overnight wealth is commonplace. To add insult to injury, these noveau riche are not even ostracized by society (Erap's masa) but instead "idolized" by the masa as "success stories"! That makes the Commodore and people like me sick and very sad!}

_{His Summit Ridge house in Orange is an unassuming little museum of Philippine history. In the spacious living room, many invited guests never miss to see the enlarged pictures of him with Philippine heroes and martyrs including all the Presidents of the Philippines, except the dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos and Joseph "Erap" Estrada, a former B-actor acting as President, catapulted into power by a politically immature population.}

_{I particularly liked the Commodore's pictures with Emilio Aguinaldo, the first President of the Philippine Revolutionary Republic, and President Manuel L. Quezon, the first President of the Philippines Commonwealth. Other pictures are with former Philippine Presidents Sergio Osmeña, Manuel Roxas, Elpidio Quirino, Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos Garcia, Diosdado Macapagal, Cory Aquino and Fidel Ramos. There are also recent pictures taken with martyrs and idealists like Ninoy Aquino and Raul Manglapus. (Through the Commodore I also got to meet Ninoy and Raul as well as past and present political leaders in the Philippines like former PCGG chairman and Senate President Jovy Salonga, former Deputy Speaker Raul Daza, Congressman Heherson Alvarez, WW II veteran Bonni Gillego, businessman Paeng Fernando and some military personalities who were his PMA comrades.)}

_{There are also historic pictures like the surrender of the famous Moro leader Kamlon, who led only about 27 brave loyal soldiers, to President Magsaysay in 1952, a historical event that Commodore Alcaraz was very proud of. In black and white, those pictures of Philippine Presidents and famous personalities of Philippine history are priceless as the personal anecdotes behind them are quite historical as they are profound.}

_{For a Filipino expatriate in the US for the last 27 years, it is stimulatingly educational to visit Commodore Alcaraz and indulge in a one-on-one dialogue with him for hours. In his mind's eye, I could see the glorious past of the Philippines , which once upon a time called, by Rizal as the "Perlas ng Silanganan!" Such conversations with this successful military man and successful businessman realtor, I see an enviable career and the graceful aging of a fulfilled human being who tried his best to leave a better world for his kababayans, his children and grandchildren.}

_{Commodore Ramon Abacan Alcaraz, fondly called "Monching" by close friends, was born on August 31, 1915 in the town of Plaridel, Bulacan. He went to the National Trade School, and thereafter gained entrance to the coveted Philippine Military Academy that was then just founded by General Douglas MacArthur and General Dwight Eisenhower, patterned after their alma mater, West Point. In 1936, 120 cadets started their freshman year but only 79 graduated in 1940. As of this writing, on their 60th graduation anniversary of Class 1940, only 23 are alive. When President Macapagal passed away a couple of years ago, the Commodore in his occasional pensive and nostalgic moods confided to me that he considers himself already in the departure area awaiting for his final boarding pass. When he dies, he added, he has instructed his family that this columnist-friend will be the first to be notified because of his connection with the Philippine and US media.}

_{With feigned humor, I reassured him that like the biblical character Methuselah and the star of that movie, God, George Burns, he will live at least a hundred years. I reminded him that even the State of California DMV and a reputable giant insurance company in the US support my claim by approving the renewal of his driver's license and approval of his estate planning insurance policy! With his healthy attitude and stress-free life, I truly believe (and pray!) he will outlast many of the 65-year-olds in nursing homes in America or his contemporaries who live in the polluted air of Metro Manila.}

_{Although many people consider Commodore Ramon Alcaraz a controversial figure, I found him to be a jovial, happy and warm person once you know him beyond his military deportment. He loves the company of intelligent men who can carry intellectual, and philosophical conversation especially in politics and history, beyond the material things of mansions, fancy cars, Dow Jones, business and real estate. As he is a leader in his own peculiar way, people of lesser caliber often misunderstand him as a "dictatorial" and "snobbish" person simply because his vision and mission in his life are above average, hence, misunderstood by many people. Although he has away from the Philippines since 1974, he Commodore Alcaraz follows the happenings in his homeland that he dearly loves every day of his life.}

_{He spent more than 30 years of his productive life in the navy, hence, whenever the conversation turns into military or navy matters he becomes excited, yet he still claims that no President of the Philippines has truly seen the extreme importance of the navy to provide the best protection of the archipelago from foreign invaders. He said that the Philippines has bigger coastal area than the US or Japan, or England, three nations that became great partly because they have fully developed their maritime potential.}

_{Reading his biography, Commodore Alcaraz, First Victim of President Marcos, the Anthology of Letters and Speeches of Commodore Alcaraz, both penned by Ernesto O. Rodriquez, a former editor of the Philippine Herald and Asiaworld publications, I learned many highlights of a distinguished career of this retired Commodore of the Philippine Navy.}

_{An authentic hero of World War II, he was awarded 27 medals (unlike the "medals" of President Marcos) and two dozen commendations for heroism, gallantry in action and for meritorious and noble service to his country. He was one of the chosen leaders of the Philippines who were incarcerated by Marcos.}

_{(To be continued)}