Before he even announced his plan to come home to the Philippines after winning THE VOICE USA, Malacanang already sent word if he would like to pay the President a visit or a courtesy call. Then there is the move of Senator Jinggoy Estrada for him to be honored at the senate.
Right from getting down from the plane, he was whisked to ABS-CBN for arrangements on how he will grace the station for a homecoming show. Years ago, he joined the Tawag Ng Tanghalan there a number times but never won. He got only up to third place after several tries. As a consolation perhaps, he was hired as one of the coaches of some aspirants.
He tried also THE VOICE PHILIPPINES but nobody even turned for him during the audition. So he went to work abroad to as a singer in a cruise ship. Later, being a dentist, he ended up working in New York as a dental assistant. As luck would have it, it occurred to him to join the latest season of the VOICE USA. He ended up winning it. The first Asian to ever achieve the honor.
His story is one of perseverance, persistence and that dreaming can lead to something. Without the dream, he would not have attained international fame.
But why do our politicians or so-called leaders never change? They are only preoccupied with gaining or maintaining their political power and on how to use it to amass more wealth? After 100s of years, they still failed to come up with rules and incentives for talented dreamers like Sofronio Vasquez to be assisted financially to get the necessary training to become internationally competitive? He could have shined or became an international star earlier if only the proper resources were made available to him.
But that is how our society is. We fail to discover and develop gems amongst our human resources.
And that is because we are so engrossed with politics and in honing our crab mentality.**