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A Good Night’s Sleep
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Postscript A Good Night ’ s Sleep
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fee going to charity. He had no qualms about bringing Cory Aquino and foreign
dignitaries to Club Mwah in Mandaluyong to watch a gay revue, which to him
represented the best of Filipino showmanship and creative talent. Wash loved
watching movies and Broadway, and supported groups such as Repertory Philippines
and the UP Singing Ambassadors.

“He actually saw himself as a performer,” says George. “He said, ‘Life’s a stage. As
an auditor, an accountant, the head of the firm, when the lights are on, you have to
perform, come rain or shine.”

In the end, George adds, “The nation was really on the top of his mind more so than
family. He had great faith in the Filipino people and he believed that they could, with
the proper education and training, overcome all obstacles. That’s why his emphasis
really was on education. He had great faith in the youth so he liked hanging around
with young people. He loved meeting with Fulbright scholars every time we were in
New York. It was learning, learning, learning all the time. Even at 96, he was always
eager to learn. He wanted to see the Philippines in a much better condition. The
thing was to never to give up hope and just to keep on working.”

George himself has taken up many of Wash’s causes, sitting on the board of the
International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, which had been set up with the help
of Albino SyCip and President Ramon Magsaysay. His concerns include food and
nutrition, aside from education. He also chairs Give2Asia, a non-profit organization
based in San Francisco, which supports hundreds of local NGOs and communities
in more than 20 countries throughout Asia. “Our motto, which my father would’ve
liked, is ‘Local Knowledge Counts.’”

Setting the example

For Robert, returning to his childhood home in Forbes Park inevitably brings back
many memories of more carefree days, and of parents who did their best to rear their
children right. The pool was an important part of that place, and Robert recalls that
“In my dad’s last years, his doctor advised him to get a lot of sunshine for the Vitamin
D, so he often sat here by pool. He had diabetes, but if you opened his fridge in the
hospital, it was stocked with ice cream!”

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