Capampangan Foundation launches historical books - Roses And Thorns byAlejandro R. Roces

Last Saturday, the Ing Capampangan Foundation Inc. launched two books written by its founder and President, Dr. Rafaelita Hilario Soriano. Dr. Soriano is one of the most outstanding women we have produced in our times. She has made a name as a scholar, educator, civic leader and diplomat. As a Levi Barbour Scholar, she finished her Masters degree in Public Administration in 1942 and her Ph. D. in Political Science in 1948 from the University of Michigan. After she graduated, she taught in eight different universities including the Graduate School of the Ateneo de Manila, the University of Santo Tomas and the University of the Philippines. As a civic leader, she was recognized even abroad. She was the Secretary-General of the First Conference of Asian United Nations Associations and Vice-Chairman of the Philippine Delegation to the World Federation of United Nations Associations in Brussels. As a diplomat, she rose to the highest rank as Chief of Mission, Class I and was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Israel.

She has long retired from government service, but it is obvious she still has much to live for and so it was not a surprise that she was launching two books simultaneously. In 1995, she edited the book Women in the Philippine Revolution and in 1996, she wrote and published A Shaft of Light, a book dealing with the second phase of the Philippine Revolution.

Now, she comes out with two more books that throw light on our history, The Pampangos is a brief history of Pampanga, with emphasis on the Pampangueños who played a role in the Revolution. John Larkins' The Pampangans gave us an outsider's view of the natives of Pampanga. Dr. Soriano gives us an inside view and it is truly revealing. The book presents a list of outstanding Pampangans and their contribution to their province and the nation.

The second book is about Gen. Mariano Llanera, who, in the words of Dr. Soriano, was Nueva Ecija's and Pampanga's greatest contribution to the Philippine Revolution.

We often think of history as events that happened. When we examine history, we discover who made such events happen. Dr. Soriano's thesis is that Gen. Llanera was the innovator of psychological and guerrilla warfare in the whole of Asia.

Last March, Dr. Rafaelita Hilario Soriano was chosen one of the 100 Filipino Women of the Millennium. The two books, she recently launched show that she more than deserved the award.