Sunstar Essay: Of family size

Saturday, November 12, 2011

STORIES about many women all loved by one important man (in politics or in the movies) are more about children and more children, like in Southeast Asian royal harems of old. Or like the movies.

The horrible news about the Revilla children hurting each other makes me wonder how deep siblings can hurt each other when they think they have reasons to do so, as many reasons as there are half siblings? It doesn’t look that simple but at first glance, the more children there are, the more chances for quarrels. If there’s money to quarrel over.

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I wonder how they do it in countries whose royalty culture for ages have encompassed the harems.

I taught English to one of the Thai students of whom there were many who came to the Philippines in the ‘60s to take up courses in Philippine schools so they could use the same knowledge back home. I taught English and Literature for one year in a university before I left for Manila but I also welcomed teaching on my own the Thai student who requested a going-over of his English, sort of.

The young Thai would regularly come to the house once a week for an hour-long lesson. I don’t remember his name (which is Thai and unfamiliar) but I can’t forget his story which I also took seriously, about him introducing himself as one of the sons of the Thai king Bhumibol by one of the royalty’s many wives.

I suppose the wives themselves had rankings, those standing by as queen-to-be and the simple serving wives who’d wait for their turn to do their duty.

The young Thai said he was due to be appointed an equivalent to a mayor of a town but it was best for him to finish a college course first. And it was even better to learn good English, of course, he said.

Even his girlfriend, daughter of a rich man with many working elephants in the big family farm (“the cost of one elephant could be bigger than the cost of a Mercedes”), came to see me.

Both said they must be informed if and when I’d travel to Thailand because I could have the privilege of having an audience with Queen Sirikit, a chance not every Thai can have. Well, I went to Bangkok and ChiangMai only about a decade later! Since I lost the student’s name, address and phone number, I missed seeing the famous, charming queen.

I imagine my student as mayor of a town in Thailand now, or even with a higher position, the way I remember him showing such good manners and good knowledge of his country. He was raised well, if this is all there is to desirable upbringing.

On the other hand, there is no powerful kingdom in the Filipino case which makes sure that children of vastly reproductive males learn good manners and love each other. The children could hurt each other in terrible ways when the parents aren’t looking.

Showbiz personality 23-year-old Ramgen Revilla (Ramgen Bautista) was found in his house dead, and his girl friend, Janelle Manahan, wounded. In the preliminary investigation conducted by the police, the murder has been linked to two of his siblings, children of former actor-senator Ramon Revilla Sr. (Jose “Ramon” Acuña Bautista Sr.) and Genelyn Magsaysay.

The same showbiz Ramon Sr., with wife Azucena Mortel, is also the father of Sen. Bong Revilla Jr. who is half-brother of the victim Ramgen.

And so there has come out more stories as background in the news, such as that Ramon Sr. has 72 children with 16 different women. The GMA news online refers to the ex-senator, now 84, as having had a “prolific reproductive career,” besides in the movies and politics.

Hey, are we in the Philippines?

The founder of Saudi Arabia, the late King Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, is said to have (as “recorded”) 45 sons by 32 wives—this was an information that came with the news of the recent death of the Crown Prince who belonged to the elite “sudairi seven” or sons of the kingdom’s founder.

I suppose there’s a lot of quarrel over the throne….

But the difference between the highly reproductive Filipino male and the powerful Saudi King is that the latter has the last word. For the Filipino, what can one man do to raise 72 children in the right way?

(ecuizon@gmail.com)