A charismatic preacher named Mike Verano.  Ethnic Chinese with roots in Fujian. A history that includes Spanish colonialization and martial law.  All these seem to describe the Philippines, but in Charlson Ong’s award-winning (2nd Prize, English Novel, Centennial Literary Prize 1898-1998) novel An Embarrassment of Riches, the setting is the fictional island of Victorianas west of the Philippines. 

With all the similarities to contemporary Philippine history, one wonders why Ong did not use this country as the setting for his story.  Perhaps it is the prominent roles played by the ethnic Chinese in the story.  How would readers react to an ethnic Chinese lady being elected President of the Philippines?  Are Filipinos ready for a feng shui master exerting so much influence on the President?  By setting the novel on a fictional island - so similar to the Philippines that it is called xiao fei (little Philippines) - Ong invites reflection on the roles ethnic Chinese play in their adopted countries.  Ong offers a vision of the depth of involvement ethnic Chinese could have in Philippine national life, a vision that is far from taking place in present-day Philippines. 

The main protagonist is Jeffrey Tantivo, whom we find in self-exile in the Philippines as the novel unfolds.  While he is away, his father Carlos dies in the Victorianas under mysterious circumstances.  Then the island’s dictator dies and elections are called.  Jennifer Suarez Sy, heiress to the island nation’s largest business empire, runs for President and asks Jeffrey to help in her campaign.  Jeffrey returns home with the twin motives of discovering the truth about his father’s death and helping create a new social order on the island.  The political and the personal providentially come together, but the outcome is startling on both counts.

Ong weaves a story that is reminiscent of the magic realism that characterizes many Latin American authors, but in Ong’s novel, there is more realism than magic.  The Chinese, for example, are not presented as benevolent rulers or paragons of virtue.  There is no messianic complex here.  Instead they are presented as ordinary people in whom the selfish and the noble, the good and the bad coexist with much tension.

The more than four hundred pages of An Embarrassment of Riches go by without a struggle.  There are interesting bits and pieces that keep one informed and entertained.  I particularly appreciated the explanation of the folk Chinese practice of making offerings to the “good brothers” around the time of the lunar new year.  My late grandmother practiced this and I’ve always wanted to find out who the “good brothers” were.  I was also amused by the references Ong made to the Jesuits (e.g. the capital of the Victorianas is named San Ignacio), which I would like to think are a tribute to the Jesuits who once educated him.

Ong’s novel helps us reflect about the roles we play in this country. My hope is that this novel will help increase the number of Tsinoys who are not afraid to openly participate in Philippine national life.  At this point in history when many presidential cronies are ethnic Chinese, we are challenged to present a more benign image of the Tsinoy.