Pinoy Top Thinkers Today (2008)

Copyright © 2009 by Chester B Cabalza. All Rights Reserved.

The essay below is the author's personal choices and partial list of Top Pinoy Intellectuals in 2008. He is re-posting this essay, as a prelude, for his upcoming and updated list for the December 2009 publication of his Top Filipino Thinkers.

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The influential Foreign Policy (FP) Magazine in its May/June 2008 issue published the list of Top 100 Public intellectuals. Some of my favorite and mostly quoted thinkers fortunately appear in the cream of the crop list such as Thomas Friedman, Francis Fukuyama, Fan Gang, Jurgen Habermas, Al Gore, Amos Oz, Amartya Sen, Lee Kuan Yew, Rober Kagan, Samuel Huntington, Fareed Zakaria, Pope Benedict XVI and more.

Of the worldwide 100 public intellectuals, seventeen political scientists ruled the elite pool of leading influential thinking people; fifteen are known as economists; philosophers, scientists and journalists have vied for equal sharing with twelve each; eight of them aspired as artists and novelists; some make a reliable source of living as leaders/politicians, historians and activists with six thinkers each; religious leaders emerge with four counts; and the least are environmentalists with two.

Of the 100 modern living scholars, thirty-six come from North America yet some of them are immigrants; thirty settle from Europe, twelve live from Asia but mostly dominated by Indians and Chinese, eleven hail from the Middle East, four each from Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa, and three from Southeast Asia and Oceania. (I wonder why they separated SEA from greater Asian region, maybe because it’s a shame that there’s only one great thinker from Oceania represented by Australia).

There are no Filipino public intellectuals in the global list that sometimes question my intent about the poll, given that Filipino intellectuals love public speaking, debates, commentaries. I feel so problematic because we fail to recognize our own great thinkers today - the counterparts of Jose Rizal and Apolonario Mabini in yesteryears, that if we translate in today’s setting these Pinoy thinkers can gauge ostentatious ideas and thoughts that have greater impacts in the world’s deterritorialized community of the 21st century.

Because of this, I made my own list of Pinoy great thinkers today based from the articles, books, columns, essays, lectures, views, poems, prose, and some comments from known mediums such as the boob tube and you tube, campaigns, speeches, accomplishments and academic distinctions that made them who they are today as leading intellectuals (remember these are my own personal choices).

They are the movers and shakers who make his or her living through the battle of ideas that can truly shape our distinct Filipino society and the world we live in as well.

The sequence of their names are not based from their colorful distinctions:

Cirilo Bautista(poet, fictionist, critic) – he’s more known for his poems and epic writings, thus winning the prestigious National Centennial Commission’s Literary Contest in English category with 3,050 lines that look like a monumental feat during the celebration of our country’s 100th year of independence. He’s a multi-awarded poet, fictionist, critic and essayist with a Hall of Fame award from the Don Palanca Awards Foundation, National Book Awards and other international honors for his literary works. He’s a leading Pinoy poet of his generation and a luminary in the guild of Philippine literature.

Leonor Briones (public administrator, bureaucrat) – she may be appearing in the boob tube to broadcast her thoughts about governance and anti-corruption issues in the government but her intelligent remarks was overshadowed when she recently sat down and eavesdropped with Boy Abunda and sang in front of a national TV. Beyond that entertaining episode, she’s widely educated, a respected academic, a former national treasurer of the Philippines, and knows very well her turf in public administration.

Randy David (sociologist, columnist, activist) – he’s been described in one of the blogs as once a fixture in television as a soft-spoken, even-tempered public intellectual on public-forum-styled programs focusing on socio-political topics. He maybe viewed as one of the highly regarded professors at the Sociology department in UP Diliman and the little president of the university during the time of President Nemenzo. But his outspoken dissatisfactions with the current administration are transcribed in his columns on the Philippine Daily Inquirer and are also voiced out during rallies along with his army of civil society members.

Conrado De Quiros (journalist, columnist, blogger) – how he weaves his chosen words for his column is superb. He writes so intensely and thinks so passionately. He has this unique gift of expressing his thoughts, unafraid of his ideas that certainly espouse tongues of fire.

Francis Escudero (senator, lawyer, commercial endorser) – he thinks and talks so fast, perhaps faster than a woodpecker. He may become our own Barack Obama with his audacity of hopeful ambition to become the next president of the country. With his youthful and energetic appearance, no wonder he can also become a poster boy for TV commercials that has become an envy for elder and insecure lawmakers. But notwithstanding his academic accolades and intellect. In his own website, he’s voted as one of the Young Global Leaders of 2008 by the World Economic Forum along with leading executives, public figures and intellectuals.

John Gokongwei (industrialist, philanthropist) – he has the riches-to-rags-to-riches story by becoming a breadwinner due to the sudden death of his rich Chinese immigrant father when he was still young and toiled so hard that paid off for more blessings in life. He’s regarded as one of Asia’s godfathers and one of the richest persons in Southeast Asia. He’s also known as a taipan, having been named as chairman of his widening conglomerate. And unbelievably, as a philanthropist he donated Php200 million for undergrad management students and to his alma maters and other schools. A bestseller book was written based from his biography entitled, The Path to Entrepreneurship, in his belief that entrepreneurship is a way out of poverty.

Carolina Hernandez (political scientist) – a professor emeritus of the political science department in UP Diliman. She’s a giant in countless intellectual forums and conferences in and out of the country, and the president of an influential think tank – the Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, Inc. Her tough personality and beautiful mind can be translated on her impressive resume that speaks about her strength as a premier consultant for civil-military relations in the Philippines.

Francisco Sionil Jose (novelist, fictionist) – sages say that he may become our ultimate Nobel Peace Prize winner for literature. But I more admire Nick Joaquin as the foremost Filipino novelist. With whole honesty, F. Sionil Jose even proclaimed Nick Joaquin as ‘the greatest Filipino writer’ during his eulogy to a dear departed friend. But since my list speaks about living intellectuals, no wonder he’s a truly prolific writer, backed up by his ‘the Rosales Saga’ novels and other fiction and non-fiction books and collection of essays. He holds highest distinctions as recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Awards (an Asian counterpart of the Nobel Peace Prize) for journalism, literature, and creative communication arts in 1980; the National Artist Award for Literature in 2001; the Pablo Neruda Centennial Award in 2004; and innumerable Palanca Awards.

Rosario Manalo (career diplomat, architect of ASEAN charter) – she speaks her mind very authoritatively during dialogues and a favorite lecturer/professor from Ateneo, La Salle, UP and NDCP because of her comprehensive insights about diplomacy, political science and international relations that are mostly based from experiences and knowledge as a former top ambassador. In one of the graduate students’ conferences that I convened, I called her as the ‘mother of ASEAN charter’ because of her expertise and involvement in designing the charter with her counterparts around the ASEAN region.

Solita "Winnie" Monsod (economist, broadcaster, columnist) – popularly known as ‘Mareng Winnie’ in her now-defunct TV talk show Debate with Mare and Pare of GMA 7. She’s feisty but composed in delivering her thoughts but sometimes some of her ideas are contradictory to the wider audience. In her wikipedia account, she’s described as a respected economist and political commentator. She may have lost her senatorial bid in the 2001 national elections but she conquered the media as a multi-awarded broadcaster, remained popular as a former bureaucrat of the Aquino administration, and is still admired in the academe.

Bienvenido Nebres (university president, religious leader) – he’s considered the longest-serving university president of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU). He’s a former provincial superior in the country of the elite congregation of the Society of Jesus or SJ. He’s known as a philosopher and a math wiz with a PhD in mathematics at the Stanford University. He made Ateneo a consistent top-notch Catholic university in the country. And just like a renaissance man as well as a religious leader, he remained formidable in spreading knowledge and faith, with his broad duties and responsibilities ranging from teaching and education, society and politics, leadership and business.

Ambeth Ocampo (historian, journalist, author) – he makes Philippine history entertaining and simplified. He likes writing books and papers about Jose Rizal, a leading intellectual of his generation that makes Ocampo’s ideas also popular and accessible today. He relives his thoughts through his bi-weekly editorial page column, and heads two government institutions: the Philippines’ National Historical Institute (NHI) in 2001 and the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in 2005. His published works have catchy titles that makes a reader titillate his or her mind?

Felino Palafox Jr. (architect, urban planner) – he leads an army of young architects, interior designers, landscape architects, and environmental/urban planners. Once you stride around the Rockwell Center or boardwalk and play golf at the Country Club, you can sense his bright ideas of creating livable cities with world-class designs. He’s a principal architect and an urban planner that has extensive works and consultancies in over 30 countries based from his website.

Annabelle Plantilla(environmentalist) – she has a say about the broad environmental issues, being the executive director of the Haribon Foundation – a respected NGO on the green revolution in the country. I have worked with her because of the collaboration of NDCP and DOT to spreading the mission and vision of ‘The Environmental Security on Tourism’ (TEST) on a nationwide leg. She exudes a warm and down-to-earth personality but has brilliant thoughts on global ecological issues that certainly caught my attention to include her in my list.

Fidel Ramos (former Philippine president, retired general) – one of the key figures of the first people power revolution in the Philippines that led to his path as the next president of the country in post-EDSA I. He pens a lot of books and articles ranging from military, economy, history, politics, international relations, governance, development, and regional cooperation. He’s the 1997 UNESCO Peace Awardee by achieving a peace agreement with the military rebels and the secessionist MNLF. More than that, he chairs the Boao Forum Asia (equivalent of the World Economic Forum held annually at Davos, Switzerland), where great minds in the Asia Pacific meet together. He was a West Point graduate, with a civil engineering degree at the University of Illinois, an MBA at ADMU, and an MNSA at NDCP. He holds 28 doctoral degrees honoris causa from various leading universities in and out of the country.

Maria Ressa (journalist, author) – she elegantly talks very clearly as she thinks so fast. She’s a small but terrible public intellectual. Her ‘Seeds of Terror’ book on terrorist organizations in Southeast Asia as then Jakarta chief bureau of CNN was loaded with mix criticisms by both foreigners as well as local experts. But this is a pioneering work on today’s security issue on terrorism made by a female expert scrutinizing local-to-regional-to-global connection of Muslim terror groups. Now, she heads the news and current affairs of ABS-CBN as a vice president, whose orders was recently defied by her senior reporter Ces Drilon not to enter the base camp of the terrorist ASG in Sulu to score a scoop that later turned into a controversial hostage-taking of Drilon’s crew but was soon freed. Drilon should have listened from this lady expert on terrorism.

Miriam Santiago (senator, lawyer) – known as Asia’s original iron lady and could be the second female president if not because of the alleged election rigging in 1992 presidential election. Her spirited commentaries and highfaluting vocabulary during sessions at the higher house poses her stellar stature as one of the best senior senators in the land. She has a very accomplished academic life, with Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science from the University of Michigan Law School. She also attended summer programs in law at Oxford university and Harvard law school. She holds a Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service in 1998 and was ranked 69th among “The 100 Most Powerful Women in the World” in 1996 by The Australian Magazine.

Winston Sycip (industrialist, founder of AIM) – he’s a product of the finest public schools and universities and is not ashamed of it. His words of wisdom are often quoted by leading business magazines. He puts blame to the deterioration of education as one the prime factors why we are a lagging economy. His vision of founding the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) with its long tradition as a leading business and management academy in the Asia Pacific region is a living testament that the country was once a producer of topnotch managers in this side of the world, but AIM today is beleaguered with administrative weaknesses and tough problems of competitiveness in a globalized world.

Michael Tan (medical anthropologist, columnist) – his namesake is the teen star of GMA 7’s Talent Center. But between the two, he’s the geek one and is proud to admit it in his column, yet he looks a very intellectual anthropologist. He’s more known for his anthropological theory or sex and culture classes. And never mind if I got two straight uno or A+ during my batch’s fieldschool for the cultural anthropology part. He can make his afternoon class very engaging and entertaining for his students and discusses wide range of topics covering medical and socio-cultural issues effortlessly. His column in Philippine daily Inquirer is informative to better understand Filipino culture and society at its best.

Alfonso Yuchengco (industrialist, diplomat, educator) – his father maybe immortalized at the DLSU Taft Campus because of a neo-classical building named after him as the Don Enrique T Yuchengco Hall. But beyond his father’s image, he has gauged a niche for himself as a prominent industrialist, CPA, diplomat, and educator. His conglomerate is pioneering in some businesses like insurance, engineering college institution, banking, mining and telecom. His highest diplomatic post so far was when he was appointed as the Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.