A book launch all his own
During a trip to Santorini in
“The
“Do you know Steve Psinakis?” he responded, just as proudly. He seemed very proud of Psinakis and wanted to know if he really was well known in the
I grew up knowing of Steve Psinakis’ role as a member of the political opposition to the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. But why he was so involved in the struggle against Marcos seemed Greek (pun intended) to me at the time. After EDSA, and after reading through his book A Country Not Even His Own, I more than just understood.
We are all citizens of the world, and the cause of freedom makes it easy for a virtual stranger to lay down his life “for a country not his own,” whether it is the
We understand why people like Mia Farrow take up the cause for the victims of the civil unrest in
Now, that is not Greek to me.
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It is unusual for a foreigner to put his life on the line with such passion as Steve Psinakis did for the cause of freedom during the dark years of the Marcos martial law regime.
“I immediately fell in love with the
I immediately knew that Psinakis was invaluable to the struggle for the restoration of democracy to the
Anyway, back to the book. Psinakis loved the white sand beaches, the delicious tropical fruits, the tastes, the smells, the weather in the
But more than just a retelling of the Philippine history from 1972 to 1986, Psinakis also tells his personal love story, and it is the stuff Mexican telenovelas are made of.
An expat working for Meralco, Psinakis, who was a divorced father of two at the time, falls in love with the Meralco patriarch’s only daughter, his “crown jewel” Presy.
Don Eugenio Lopez Sr. disapproved of Steve for his only daughter and warned that if she continued seeing Psinakis, Presy would be disowned and disinherited.
“That didn’t make any difference to us,” wrote Psinakis, “We had found in each other the reason to be, the perfect other half. Neither of us would give that up for anyone or anything.”
Presy, for her part, said, “I love him (Don Eugenio) dearly and I know he’s only thinking of my happiness, but I will not allow him to become an obstacle. So until he sees how happy I really am, we’ll just have to live somewhere else... Let’s leave the
Steve and Presy left the
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But it was also because of Don Eugenio, whom the couple reconciled with, that Steve and Presy moved to
He was also witness to his father-in-law’s “painful decision not to fight the dictator head on as long as Geny was in jail.”
“From 1972 to 1974, the old man gradually submitted to all the blackmail demands of Marcos, turning over to the dictator’s people one by one all the major economic interests of the Lopez family worth hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Psinakis also writes about how his association with Ninoy Aquino (who addressed him “Hey, Greek” when he was happy and simply “Steve” when he was distressed) and his (Steve’s) very interesting meeting with Imelda Marcos in
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More than a book about the end of the Marcos dictatorship, Psinakis recounts his remarkable odyssey, starting from the events that inspired him to champion democracy in the
Published by Anvil Publishing, the book takes its title from a citation from President Cory Aquino commending Psinakis for his work in restoring human rights and democracy in the
In the book’s foreword, President Aquino wrote of Psinakis, a close friend of her late husband Ninoy Aquino: “Steve’s steadfast commitment all those years to the struggle to restore democracy in the
Psinakis, an American of Greek descent, came to
How Psinakis waged and won his battle for more responsibility and later, higher salaries for Meralco’s Filipino managers is considered part of Meralco lore.
A Country Not Even His Own is now available in National Bookstore and other leading bookstores nationwide.
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