Recipients of the PLM Haribon Award: Manny Quintal, Esq., and Ferdie Perfas, Ph.D.
Last week, my compatriot and Philippine Daily Mirror (PDM) co-columnist, Atty. Manuel Quintal and I traveled to Manila to receive the PLM Haribon Award for Alumni Distinguished Achievements, recognizing our advancement of progressive ideas and advocacy. The award summed up where we came from and what we have achieved so far.
It provided a contrast between how and where I began in my lifelong quest for education, a professional career, service to others, and a better quality of life, and where I find myself now. My journey is the journey of most PLM alumni, and I believe that many others likewise deserve to receive the award. I accepted the award, mulling over this thought.
Who would think that a boy who grew up in a poor village in Bicol Province and later in the squalors of Tondo would find his way to a much better place in the U.S., and not only this, but having the option to choose where he wants to live now. Tondo of the 60s and 70s was a social blackhole that swallowed the weak and the drifters with its regular violent gang wars, drugs, gambling, women, and other vices. Hope was a rare commodity, but I never sold out my dream and gave up hope.
Six decades have passed since PLM first opened its doors to Manila’s poor public high school graduates as government scholars. I was one of the lucky ones who got in. It was a one-way ticket to academic success or failure, a do-or-die situation. My family didn’t have the means to finance a college education, a reality I shared with most of my PLM contemporaries. There were casualties, including those who were asked to leave because they were unable to meet the required grades. I must say that I finished college through grit and with tremendous discipline.
“What carried the day were my native intelligence, work ethic, openness to learning, and being driven. Whatever I start, I must see it through to the end at all costs.”
While some of us were able to engage and maintain romantic relationships throughout college, it eluded me. In hindsight, it was providential; I avoided the distraction of a budding relationship and the financial costs it entailed. Maybe my better angel drove those women away whom I had a crush on, heightening the loneliness of my demanding academic life and environment. Without regrets, though, for I had yet to meet my soulmate.
I thought that a college degree would open doors readily towards a better life. Little did I know, it was another struggle, a means of proving personal worth. This time, it was a test of personality, abilities, persistence, and making good choices. Poverty leaves one socially disadvantaged in an unfamiliar world of work and social culture. I realized I was under-socialized. Sometimes, one learns it the hard way. What carried the day were my native intelligence, work ethic, openness to learning, and being driven. Whatever I start, I must see it through to the end at all costs.
When I moved to the U.S., I was a trained professional, but I had to contend with racial discrimination. To succeed, one had to work twice as hard and pursue higher education. All of which I did, and still my income was never comparable to that of supervisors, usually white people, with much less education and skills. These things didn’t deter me because I genuinely believe that what you deserve, but didn’t get, comes to you in other ways. Call it fatalistic, but it works for me.
Finally, I’m forever grateful for my education at PLM and the incredible journey it spawned to professional success, a journey I shared in my new memoir, The Accidental Therapist.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Fernando B. Perfas is an addiction specialist who has written several books and articles on the subject. He currently provides training and consulting services to various government and non-government drug treatment agencies regarding drug treatment and prevention approaches. He can be reached at fbperfas@gmail.com.
