by By Gilda Cordero-Fernando GCF is one of my role-models and mothers. Ateneo gave her the prestigious Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi for her immense contributions to Philippine culture as a writer, publisher, art gallery owner, playwright, cultural icon. The following is her response. *** One of the realizations I had when advised that this Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi award had to do with preserving Filipino identity was that being Filipino wasn’t natural with me, I had to learn how to be Pinoy. Like other middle class Filipinos, I had a Western upbringing, I studied in a convent school run by Belgian nuns. My doctor father was a two-time Cambridge pensionado all fired up about American democracy. Mommy adored Shirley Temple and tried her damnest to make me look like her. We ate meat loaf and mashed potatoes and apple pie. My first book had a lot of snow and fir trees, squirrels and children with blonde hair. I had no idea I was Filipino. One day when I was eight, I had a glimpse of the primer of my...