Is the prim and proper Maria Elisa "Boots" Anson Roa for real?
For a fleeting moment she paused, then answered the question
obliquely in the refined and measured tone that people have
grown familiar with from years of hearing her on the radio,
seeing her in the small and big screens or watching her emcee
countless programs.
"What you see is what you get," she said. "The nuns at
Assumption taught us that if you want to know what is real about a
person, catch her when she is alone. How do you behave when
you're alone, when you know that you won't be found out?
That's you."
Now the president of the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation Inc.
(Mowelfund), chair of the National Commission for Culture
and the Arts (NCCA) cinema committee, NCCA executive committee
member, host of "Boots Talk" aired over ABS-CBN's radio
station DZMM, among other involvements, she cannot imagine
herself, even at age 58, ever retiring and becoming a woman
of leisure.
"I never will be one. I guess it's what the nuns in school
inculcated. If by a woman of leisure, you mean watching
television whenever I want, going to parties, playing mahjongg,
taking off for a vacation anytime, I'll probably feel guilty.
I want my life to be more meaningful rather than just seeking
my own comfort and satisfaction," she said.
This speech and drama major of the University of the
Philippines left school without completing her thesis, but she managed
to complete certificate courses in basic journalism, public and
media relations at Georgetown University in Washington DC and
television production at Media General Cable Network. Today she
still finds time to teach broadcast management at the Ateneo
de Manila University every Wednesday morning, and film and TV
at the UP College of Mass Communication in the afternoon, going
out of her way to give her students photocopies of the required
readings.
She admitted, "I'm service-oriented. My orientation from my
school days is other-oriented. It has always been that way. I don't
see myself retiring. If service has always been your life, not
doing anything deprives it of meaning. I don't think I can bear
that."
Her husband Pete has told her many times whenever she is home,
feeling restless and in search of an activity, "When you're
looking for something to do, you'll really find something to
do."
It was he who wanted to return to the Philippines after his
entire family moved to the United States in the 1980s when Ms. Anson
Roa was appointed press attaché, cultural officer and special
assistant to the Philippine ambassador to the US. She handled media, community and cultural
relations.
Their stay in the States lasted 11 years. It entailed selling
houses and lots in the home country bought from their savings so
they could finance their children's private school education.
They had to close their family enterprises like the Boots ready-to-wear
line and OAK (one-of-a-kind) handpainted men's shirts. Eddie
Baddeo, now a renowned name in haute couture, got his first break while
fresh out of school by working for the Roas.
Anson Roa said, "We didn't want our kids in US public school
because we were after the character education offered by private
schools.
Even when we could afford to send them to school fulltime, we
still told them to work."
This was nothing new to the Roa children who were working
students already in the Philippines. During their summer and Christmas
breaks, they did odd jobs in the office and shop like joining
the delivery boys in unloading stocks at the department store outlets,
buttonholing or sticking labels on the clothes.
The eldest, Leah Roa Cuevas, was on the dean's list of George
Washington University where she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry.
She is now the assistant to the dean of the Marymount
University Graduate School of Education in Arlington, Virginia.
The second, Joey, went to the Northern Virginia Community
College in Annandale, Virginia, took up some banking subjects at the
American
Institute of Banking in Washington DC and TV production also at
Media General Cable in Arlington. When his father suffered a stroke in
1997, Joey took it upon himself to take care of Pete fulltime.
Third child Chiqui Roa Puno, a familiar face on Philippine
television as a sportscaster of PBN-4 and IBC-13, graduated magna cum
laude
with a B.S. Psychology from George Mason University in Fairfax,
Virginia.
The youngest, Ben, was also on the dean's list at the same
university where he got his degree in business administration. He is
still
in the US, working in an information technology firm.
It was Chiqui who gave the mother an eye-opener about the direction she would take.
Anson Roa recalled, "She struck a chord when she said on her
senior year in college, 'When I graduate, I'll just work fulltime to
save
money and gain experience. But I'm going home because I want
the Filipinos to benefit from what I have learned. Why should I make
America richer? If I can contribute something to the
Philippines, why not?"
The mother told herself that Chiqui was right. "My God, we were
contributing to the brain drain! Pete always felt that we were just
statistics, part of the population count among the minority. We
faced a glass ceiling." Besides, his parents were in their 90s, and
he wanted to be with them in their last years of life so he
went home ahead.
Anson Roa was left in the US to wind things up. She had their
house sold, held garage sales and finished the administrative duties at
her office.
She rued, "I was happy with our quiet life and so fulfilled. I
thought that I had faced my challenges well." After four years in the
embassy and with the change of administration in the
Philippines in 1986, she worked for a time as a telemarketing supervisor
of
Public Interest Communications, then a subscription
representative of the Kennedy Center, guest services officer of Hyatt
Regency
Hotel before becoming a secretary and later executive assistant
of the senior vice president for operations of the Citizen's Bank
of Washington. She worked her way up and was sent on a banking
scholarship that she was unable to finish.
She said, "My American bosses were amazed at my perfect
English, the accurate way I spoke. They called me a wordsmith. I did
their
correspondence, even the ones in Spanish. When I made paalam
and gave them three months notice, they asked why. I said, 'My husband
wants me home. I want to keep the family together.' It sounded
strange to them that I had to follow Pete out of sheer obedience. I
sacrificed my career in the States to accede to his wishes."
Her colleagues and supervisors gave her a memorable send-off
party, presenting her with a solid gold bracelet and a gold-plated
clock.
She recalled, "Most heart-warming were the words of my boss who
said, 'I want to thank you, Boots, for introducing a new work ethic in
the bank.' Everyone stood up and applauded. In my mind were the
words, 'Puwede na akong mamatay.' That standing
ovation made the occasion doubly meaningful."
She was not at all regretful. "God is good although we had a
reentry adjustment. We had to rent a house for two years and move around
in a secondhand car we bought from Chiqui's husband and which
we paid for in installment for ten months. The good karma (I earned from
the sacrifice I made) produced results. My manager Bibsy
Carballo spread the word to producers that I was coming home."
Even before she left the US, she already had assignments
waiting in the Philippines. She did three movies at the same time and
commercials for Silver Swan, Master Sardines and Avon. Out of
seven TV shows offered to her, she did three: a drama anthology for
RPN-9, a sitcom for GMA-7 and the family-oriented "Pamilya"
anthology which she, her husband and their friends produced.
"Tuloy-tuloy. I was never without an
assignment," she said. Before long she was able to buy a townhouse, two
condominium units and a modest house in Kamuning, Quezon City,
the cost of which Anson Roa shared with her sister.
Leah, Chiqui and Ben, meanwhile, have given their parents eight
grandchildren. Joey still lives with his parents, caring for his
father.
The older Roa can walk with a brace and a cane or even without a
brace for short distances.
Anson Roa, the daughter of actor Oscar Moreno and Belen
Cristobal, once a chemistry professor at the University of the East, was
pleased with the fact that the awards she has won for acting
are fewer than her citations and awards for services within and without
the entertainment industry.
She expressed concern that Mowelfund's funds have been
drastically cut. The organization used to receive 60 percent of the
amusement
taxes earned from the Metro Manila Film Festival, but now the
percentage is down to 35.
The members number 4,500. Their head said, "They're the obscure
ones, the stunt men, the supporting actors and actresses who are not
active anymore, the makeup artists, utility men and crew." Of
the more famous names in need of help, she mentioned Dely Atay-atayan
and Metring David.
These members are entitled to P7,000 for hospitalization,
P3,000 for medicine, P12,000 for surgery and upon death, the surviving
family
members receive P25,000. Anson Roa said it was not good
practice for the members to passively wait for these benefits. Under
her,
Mowelfund introduced livelihood training (hair cutting,
reflexology and computer literacy) "so the members would find a greater
sense
of fulfillment because they work for their money."
The feedback she has received from those who finished these
short-term courses is heartening. They have started working in their
neighborhoods, offering home service and earning at least P200 a
day.
She noted, "How proud they are of their diplomas! You can see that a sense of self-worth is so important."--Elizabeth Lolarga
First published in Planet Philippines, 2003.
Photo of Boots Anson Roa from http://www.showbiz-portal.com/2011/06/boots-anson-roa-spearheads-92nd.html
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