As an undergraduate, Nick Santos studied economics and political science, and he said he never considered himself a political animal and spent most of his time studying and preparing for examinations. “My political orientation was straightforward, since I grew up around the Huks in Central Luzon, and worked in the rice fields with my parents,” he explained. ”For someone like me to attend a university I needed help. I wouldn’t have made it without the help of a local politician; I started by working on his campaign and followed it up by studying political systems. I believe the best way to learn is by actually doing something. But for me all this work was just an exercise; I knew what I stood for. But I never once mentioned my political orientation; and only a few people have asked me about it.” Nick said that he mostly read books on political systems, “because without systems nothing worked. I wasn’t very much interested in the players or individual politicians, even though I knew they were key.” Nick actually went China, when, right after the Cultural Revolution, China was still red and still closed to most outsiders. He read Mao’s LITTLE RED BOOK and brought back a Chinese flag, which he displayed on his office wall. He also read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO, which he worked through several times, taking extensive notes. He then turned to the important documents of the American experience, THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, and THE CONSTITUTION and THE BILL OF RIGHTS. He read only fifty or so of the 85 essays that make up the FEDERALIST PAPERS and then skimmed the rest. After consuming Hamilton, Madison and Jay, Nick thought he could hold his own in a debate about THE CONSTITUTION OF UNITED STATES, on which Aguinaldo’s CONSTITUTION and THE CONSTITUTION OF THE PHILIPPINES were based.
Since the main purpose of Nick’s study was for him to secure his future, as a scholar and professor, he stayed away from talking about his political orientation. It was more important to him that he earn an appointment on the faculty. Alas, once he gained tenure in the politic science department, then and only then could Nick express his personal views, and even then he had to be careful. He considered his trip to China a risk, both because China was considered a eastern piranha and because of the Philippines’ alignment with the United States. Professors therefore tended to be conservative. “Yeah,” he began, recalling his trip to China, “It was certainly risky: when Marcos was lobbying hard for economic and military aid from the United States.” An important question for Nick was could his actions be explained away, if they needed to be? Was Nick really leaning toward Communism, or was he exploring it simply for academic reasons? What about the flag people saw when they entered his office? You couldn’t clearly say what it meant. It could’ve been simply a souvenir. It was a very nice one to bring back. This was about the only indulgence Nick allowed himself since he was one of less than a handful of Filipino students to go to China during that time. Since I couldn’t make up my mind about where Nick stood politically, I couldn’t write about him. But he did become an important source for me as I poked around the Diliman campus of The University of the Philippines. And what I eventually came to believe was this: To know where Nick politically stood was not that important…this was how I approached it…for me to get where I needed to go. If I knew for sure, for instance, that Nick indeed was a Communist would the information he gave me be less valid. I hate propaganda. In that case, it was not only possible but then probable that I missed a hell of lot, but in reality, I wouldn’t have gotten a complete picture anyway. But to pursue this a bit further: let’s say I found out that Nick was indeed a card-carrying Communist, would my association with him also condemn me? And this was something I often thought about…now I wonder what I thought about it. Um! Well, yes, a close friend of mine was a card-carrying Communist; ‘I don’t know whether I really knew that or not.’ Okay. But didn’t you know how a majority of your countrymen or countrywomen felt about Communist? I suppose so, but this wasn’t the United States. My out was that I never knew for certain what Nick’s political orientation actually was, and then I was baffled when they came after me with you should’ve known. I couldn’t read the guy’s mind. Suppose they accused you of being a Communist and your name ended up on a black list because of your association with so and so…just suppose it? Yes, no and as much as you denied it, the inference, now an accusation, suppose it stuck? Then coming under embarrassing scrutiny after you’d written your piece, they could well say, “Well, since you’re a Communist, we can’t accept this.” And then in turn you could say either, “I’m not a Communist, and I’ll leave it at that,” or “don’t burn the piece because you don’t like the source.”
Randy Ford
