By Minyong Ordoñez
Chairman and CEO
Basic Advertising
Published by
Anvil Publishing, Inc.
But of course there is no more fitting title for Minyong Ordoñez’s first book than the one he has chosen for it, because the fact is that he writes from his gut.
Funnily enough, as he tells us in his preface, when he took up writing again, he had intended to write fiction. Yet there is nothing fictional in this collection of stories and essays; on the contrary, one might call it 100 percent real, live, vintage Minyong.
The book engages you. The stories, warm and disarming, have a charm all their own: the scenes are bright with colors of a lush countryside, and redolent with the scents of Minyong’s Majayjay, the center of his childhood universe. With him, we take in heady doses of simmering paksiw, freshly-dug ginger, ylang-ylang blooms and windowsills still damp from a scrubbing with is-is leaves.
We hear the sounds of the local band, trumpet and flute not quite in time with the snare and bass drums, the music making its way down a dusty road, trailed by a procession of mourners.
We are introduced to Minyong’s Dada Genia, his Inay Aurea, and we hear of the political career of his Tio Felix...we wade in the icy water of the Dalitiwan river, and get a quick lesson in how to sauté with pork or hibi.
The pages devoted to the Japanese occupation of his hometown, his boyhood friends who took to the hills, and his wife Tinette’s untimely death are gripping and intimate; the tales of his early career, exhuming the bones of his two fathers (you will have to read the book if you want that last explained) and his love affair with his Mustang are told with innocent humor and singular pride.
Even his musings, on culture, religion or politics, are stamped indelibly with Filipino-ness, and it is an attitude that mars the way Minyong sees the world.
His prose is simple, descriptive, almost bare. But now and then, there leaps out a phrase or word that you’ve never heard used in such a way before. It is as though finding the English language a bit stiff for his purposes, he has decided to retrofit some of its words. And Minyong does so with joyful exuberance, stretching the edges of their meanings until they are transformed into more robust vessels of expression.
Everything in Gut Feel is primary experience – personal, sensorial, dramatic and involving. The stories, past and present, are all wonderful because they are told with such endearing candor. One cannot help but celebrate with Minyong his delight in the fullness of life, and his constant appetite for more of it.
The prospective reader of Gut Feel is forewarned to settle into a comfortable lounging chair before he or she begins the book. Just as it is in a live encounter with Minyong Ordoñez, it is difficult to tear oneself away from the man, once he gets going.
The author is rather a legend in the advertising industry, widely known and respected for his intuitive approach to communication strategy and execution. Over the years, he has built a sterling reputation for his ad agency and an enviable creative portfolio, cementing client relationships with a highly personalized kind of service that has become the company’s most distinguishing aspect.
In this his first book, Minyong embraces the creative person’s credo: Break the rules, if you must. But always speak the truth.