Revisiting history

We must congratulate our good friend, former Manila Overseas Press Club president Jose “Pepe” Rodriguez, for the successful launching of his fifth book, Front Pages of Philippine History (Primeras Paginas De La Historia De Filipinas)” at the Raffles Hotel in Makati City.

Friends from the diplomatic circle, society, business, politics, media as well as the literati were all praises for Pepe’s latest opus described by no less than the Nobel Prize in Literature 2010 awardee Mario Vargas Llosa as “instructive” and “entertaining” for the way it presented Philippine history through carefully selected newspaper articles in English, Filipino and Spanish, many of them from the author’s personal archives.

Those who know the former Asia Pacific bureau chief of the Spanish international news agency EFE are not surprised at the keen interest of Rodriguez in this country, its people and its history because he fell in love with the Philippines the minute he laid eyes on his talented and supportive wife, renowned portrait artist Lulu Coching, some three decades ago. Lulu’s oil paintings of Philippine presidents and first ladies decorate the walls of Malacañang Palace.

“For over 100 years, the history of the Philippines has been a continuing saga of how its people responded to the events that shaped their history…I dare say this history is in many ways a by-product of the way the press has bared it all to the public, the way the print media sharpened the perceptions of its leaders  and decision makers, and acted as a partners in the resolution of the difficulties,” Rodriguez remarked, putting into perspective the powerful role that media and its practitioners can play in shaping history.

Many certainly agree with the veteran journalist and author when he says: “One of the greatest sins of today is thinking that everything is ‘finished’ in the present, not caring anymore about the past, our history. My book is an argument against this attitude.”