By Lolo Bobby M. Reyes

Dateline Los Angeles, California, Dec. 28, 2010, Coconut News Network (CNN Kuno), 2010 “Niños Inocentes” Lampoon Edition

R etired University of the Philippines (UP) Prof. Cesar Torres and Ms. Maria Elizabeth Embry floated recently an idea in several e-groups to lobby the Nobel Prize Committee for and on behalf of a Filipino writer. Professor Cesar and Ms. Maria think that Filipino novelist F. Sionil José should be named the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Yes, Manong Frank Sionil José deserves the accolade, the gold medal and the one-million-dollar cash award that go to a Nobel Prize winner. But the Nobel Prize has become so-highly politicized and so-much lobbying is needed to garner it. It will be like shooting for the moon (“suntok sa buwan” in Tagalog parlance) to lobby and win one for F. Sionil José among the Nobel Prize Committee members.

Well, Professor Torres is also the founding chairman of the Samarnons of America (SoA). On the other hand this writer is an adopted Samarnon. In fact, he became the first non-native son of Samar or Leyte to be elected the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Leyte-Samar Association, Inc., (LSA) of Los Angeles, California, in December 2000.

Therefore, I proposed today to Professor Torres, the SoA and the LSA to create the “‘No-Bell Prize’” and have it headquartered in Balangiga town of Eastern Samar Province.

To the uninitiated, Balangiga town is the site of one of the only major victory of then fledgling Filipino Revolutionary Army that fought the United States military during the Christian phase (1899-1902) of the Filipino-American War. To read more about the Battle of Balangiga, please just Google it or go to www.bibingka.com that has a much-respected article by Victor Nebrida on the Balangiga Military Incident. Here is the hyperlink, "The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even".

T he “‘No-Bell’ Prize” can be established to honor Filipino achievers like F. Sionil José and inspire him (and/or them) to write a historical novel or more articles about the Balangiga bells that were seized illegally by the United States Army after the Battle of Balangiga (or “Balangiga Massacre,” as some historians call the incident). It can be used also to mock certain state leaders of the State of Wyoming that continue to insist that they have the absolute right to keep the “war booties” from Eastern Samar in the United States. Three of the Balangiga bells are kept in a U.S. Air Force Base in Wyoming.

The lobby to return the bells of Balangiga to the Eastern-Samar town was initiated by then Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos, an alumnus of the United States Military Academy at West Point. But to no avail. The Wyoming leaders and even the White House occupants have refused to return the “Balangiga Bells” to the people of the Philippines by rejecting a formal lobby undertaken by Filipino national and Samarnon leaders. Perhaps the granting of the “No-Bell Prizes” to the said Wyoming and American leaders can do the trick. As Dr. Joy Bruce said, the “knack for driving (the) point and making fun of others through humor and satire” may work.

As everybody knows, “in satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.”

Any nominations then for the “No-Bell Prize” among prospective nominees from Wyoming and/or the District of Columbia? # # #

W ebmaster’s Notes: Here are some of the comments about the wit and humor of Bobby Reyes:

“You're a genius, Bobby. You're a Jay Leno/Dave Lettermen/Jon Stewart rolled into one”—Jesse José, the “A Cup O’ Kapeng Barako” columnist of Seattle, Washington.

“Tocayong Bobby, you can give Dave Barry a run for his money.  Wanna try the Washington Post or the New York Times?”—Bobby Manasan, the Filipino “Adventurer” of Virginia.

“I have to admit that I am still amazed at Bobby’s wicked, albeit funny sense of humor and knack for driving his point and making fun of others through humor and satire.”—Dr. Joy Bruce of Miami, Florida.