Should we have a retroactive dual citizenship by legislation sponsored by some Bataan Congressman, for Victoria Manalo of Orani? This is a new year, which should not be linked to negatives by nattering nabobs.

I am not alone in asserting that Vicki deserves recognition in the Philippines for her Olympic feats.

A technicality pointed out by one who looked like Popoy Juico is that she had become an American when she won those two Olympics’48 golds in diving. That shouldn’t stop us however from claiming her as ours just like Brian Viloria and Nonito Donaire (now both American citizens) proudly proclaiming they’re Pinoys. Nice.

We need rose-colored glasses. Not half-empty, but half-full. The dough, not the hole.

But, we seem to be more on accentuating the negative rather than the positive. At 73, I remain hopeful I may yet be able to travel and visit the park named after Vicki in San Fran. When she went to reconnect in Orani some years ago, it was fiesta for a week there. If we can confer honorary citizenship on Fr. Reuter, most deserving, no doubt, why not for one with Pinoy blood?

Our local press does not mention anything either about Tim Lincecom (mother, Pinay, Rebecca Asis, a daughter of immigrants) who I again saw on ESPN over the holidays, in magnificent relief of the Giants in the 2012 World Series (replay). He has coveted Cy Young and Babe Ruth awards under his belt.

Why little or nothing about Tim Tebow, born to American missionaries in Makati in 1975? (Also on Aug. 14, my birth date, which I likewise share with Magic Johnson, as well as with Comelec chief Boy Brillantes; Boy and I us were born on Aug. 14, 1939 and we have not settled the issue of who’s older; we both attended San Beda and lost our wives in separate vehicular incidents.) Tim Tebow has been generously helping the local poor, particularly orphans. He’s having a hospital built in Davao. Construction started last January and it is expected to open in mid-2013.

Benny Agbayani starred for the New York Mets a dozen years ago. The son of Pinoy and Samoan parents he apparently never reconnected with us, despite his surname being a giveaway. From the North, obviously. But, he may not be interested, his right.

Neither may Tim Lincecom. Maybe we should take the initiative to show that we are not just tops in talk-and-text, not an Olympic event. That we can excel not only in the Manly Art of Modified Murder or the Cauliflower Industry presents its own set of problems.

A big park (two acres) in San Fran is now named after Vicki; in the Philippines, nada. We should take steps to correct the situation.

I got this email last Sunday from This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. >:

“Our kababayan State Sen. Donna Mercado Kim is now the State Senate President of Hawaii Legislature. Hawaii News Now reports that the Senate reorganization came in the wake of US Sen. Dan Inouye’s death last week. Mercado Kim was the Senate’s former vice president.

“According to the Philippine Embassy, 18 of the 29 Filipino American candidates won in the recent national, state and local elections including Rep. Robert Scott who made a successful bid for an 11th term as representative of the Third District of Virginia.

“Vice Mayor Rob Bonta of Alameda is the first Filipino-American to be elected to the California State Assembly. Jose Esteves is the reelected Mayor of Milpitas and Jim Navarro won a seat in the Union City Council.

“Although Hawaii’s former Gov. Ben Cayetano failed in his bid to become mayor of Honolulu, nine of 11 Filipino-American candidates made it to that state’s House of Representatives and Senate.

Elected to the Hawaii House of Representatives were: Gilbert S. Keith-Agaran (9th District); Della Au Belatti (24th District); Romy Cachola (30th District); Henry Aquino (38th District); Ty Cullen (39th District) and Rida Cabanilla-Arakawa (41st District).

“Elected to the Hawaii State Senate were: Donna Mercado Kim (14th District); Will Espero (19th District); and Donovan Dela Cruz (22nd District). Also elected were Kymberly Marcos Pine, Joey Manahan and Ron Menor as members of the Honolulu City Council; Greggor Ilaga as member of the Hawaii County Council; and Don Guzman as member of the Maui County Council.”

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California is Tani Cautil-Sakauye.

Accentuate the Positive: Huwag po nating laging abahin ang ating sarile na tayo ay lahing busabos.

Born in 1959 in Sacramento, Chief Justice Tani, for BA, attended the University of California, Davis, graduating with honors in 1980. After taking a year off to visit her ancestral homeland, our native land, the Philippines, she entered the UC Davis, Martin Luther King, Jr. School of Law in 1981, and got her JD in 1984.

How nice that she would connect, like Vicky Manalo.

On accentuating the positive, if I may borrow from a Harvard Law stude, in praise of “a place where competing viewpoints are embraced: ‘You are able to have an exchange of ideas that, while it’s animated sometimes, at the end of the day, is still very respectful and you realize that you are learning from each other, and that’s great.” Karl Sigwarth, Harvard Law Today, Dec. 2012, p. 4.

Respect is what I expect, for persons and institutions, like the legislature, where I once worked.

The House is now out against Justine Bieber for insulting Manny Pacquiao, vying for top absentee, disgracing an institution.

We have a woman CJ here. The ones I would have preferred for CJ, given the storm clouds about elevating a relative “outsider,” would have had to step down next year. But, CJ Meilou, like CJ Tani, was picked constitutionally. So I support her. The Supreme Court (SC) should not be seen as scorpions in a bottle on turf and pecking order but should work together for our people.

Our local press should tell us more about our own doing well here and elsewhere and not focus on our frailties, failures and squabbles. We should so resolve in 2013, and beyond.

No more death squads. And circular firing squads. Do I repeat myself?