blurb: Humility, not pride, is the quality that Filipinos need most to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps.

I’ve previously made a pitch for the return of the "lowly" Maya as the Philippines national bird. Like I said before, the sociable maya better exemplifies the Filipino virtues of bayanihan and pakikisama than the solitary Haribon.

The small rice bird is a survivor, able to weather man’s depredations on its environment far better than the endangered Philippine Eagle which needs an inordinately wide forest stand to sustain a small population.

Certainly, the latter’s lifestyle has no place in a world reeling from global warming as a result of the wanton consumerism espoused by the glutton economies of the so-called G-7 who account for a mere fraction of the world’s populace yet consume over ninety percent of its resources.

The very reason why Fidel Ramos chose to replace the Maya as the Philippine Eagle smacks of the Pinoy’s unfortunate penchant to ape things Western, or American for that matter.

Tabako thought the Haribon the better of the Bald Eagle of the US, but failed to see the virtues of the lowly maya which are more reflective of the Pinoy’s strengths as a people.

Just look at how both the mighty and sundry have sought to ride on the coat tails of Pinoys who make it big in the global arena. Paeng Nepumoceno, Eugene Torre and Bata Reyes know only too well the Presidents who honored them with the highest accolades of the land did it as much for the benefit of the awardee as for the awardor.

But has there been a Pinoy bowler, chesser or cue artist who has been inspired to scale greater heights than their heroes? That’s because the Haribon mentality which placed a premium on Pinoy pride of past glories was misplaced in the first place.

Paeng, Eugene and Bata all can tell you it was not pride in their abilities but rather respect for their opponents and humility at the enormity of the task facing them that inspired them to work harder to perfect their game even when they were already at the top of the world during their prime.

Qualities which recall, certainly not the regal, high-flying Philippine Eagle, but the small, lowly maya with both feet on the ground (as my good friend Joe Nebrao is wont to say), fully aware of its limitations and weaknesses, cheerfully living off the crumbs greater Gods and Eagles may throw its way, yet learning to co-exist with man and his depredations better than the Haribon, and ultimately, we suspect, outliving even man and his ricefields and kaingins.

The late, great economist E.B. Schumacher sums up the case to restore the maya as the country’s national bird best with the title of his bestseller, "Small is Beautiful," and the four cardinal virtues he espouses to restore man’s balance in life: prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance.

As the Good Book sums it all up in two of its immortal passages: 2 Corinthians 7-10: To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for when I am weak, then I am strong.