BY JEROME VARON
LEO Satana enjoys the admiration, respect and love of people who know him up close and personal.
Serving presently as municipal administrator of the town of San Joaquin in Iloilo province, Leo, notwithstanding his status as “the little mayor”, is an epitome of a real public servant, not a master of the town.
Soft-spoken with an engaging personality to every folk he comes to face with, he has been able to depict himself as a simple man among the crowd, a leader within the group.
His experiences in life moulded the kind of person that he has been through the years. Raised from a modest family, he was taught the basic values by his parents that laid the foundations of the path he led in latter years; fear and love of God, choice of righteousness, humility, compassion, industry, patience, and other virtues which were later taught in educational institutions he attended.
He worked with the Commission on Human Rights after his graduation. In performing his task of investigating cases of human rights violations, he was able to get closer encounters with people considered to belong to the lower strata of our society, the helpless, abused and discriminated, among others.
An opportunity came when he was chosen as a fellow of graduate studies at a university in Southampton, United Kingdom in the early part of this century. It was a rare privilege he knew too well will provide him the opportunity to become a better person.
He packed his bag and went off to a yet uncharted place. It was there that Leo came to experience and understand the real pains of discrimination. In the early days of living in a predominantly white community, he was an odd out in the crowd. Nobody would dare to be close to where he was. He found himself sitting alone at the farthest portion of the bus when he travelled. He occupied the back row of the classroom, alone in that row of vacant seats. Nobody talked to him. Nobody gave him the attention. Everybody seemed to consider him a pesky fly and looking at him with derision.
But the situation gradually changed when the professor finally pointed a question to Leo about the lecture at hand. Leo, a little surprised, nonetheless, gathered just enough of what he had and stood up to speak his mind. It was the same Leo Satana who debated and argued with his classmates and professors in the University of San Agustin.
It was his eloquence and mild- mannered persuasions that took the notice of everyone when he pointed out his idea when he was in the Philippines! When he was finished, the professor gave a nod and said some complimentary comments to what had just been delivered. It was then that Leo saw every head of his class was turned towards his direction, everyone was looking at him! He was the focus of attention. And starting with a few friends who dared greet him for the first time, he gradually experienced the immersion with students who learned a valuable lesson from a guy they thought to be inferior. It was also a valuable experience for Leo that he cherished up to this day.
Leo ended his stint at Southampton with flying colors. He successfully defended his masteral thesis and graduated with a master’s degree from that historical town where the great Titanic was built. And Leo remains the same in all the simplicity and goodness of a man. Only wiser and better equipped in continuing his journey.
Surely, he changed the way his classmates and the community in Southampton treat darker-skinned and shorter, lighter-built humans who they may have a chance to meet from then on./PN
