Diplomats, Jesuits, and authors

Former Ambassador to the Court of St. James Cesar Bautista gathered some members of the English Speaking Union, Philippines chapter, on November 6 to meet with incoming British Ambassador Asif Ahmad over lunch.

It was funnier than ironic that each of us, upon being introduced to the amiable ambassador, welcomed and initially spoke to him in Filipino — since we had all heard of his proficiency in our language.

Fair exchange or fair enough, then — laughter all around, until at some point we had to turn serious if not exactly grim about Yolanda’s aftermath.

Ahmad recounted how he was immediately consulted by the home office regarding British relief aid. And that the first plans were overtaken by their PM’s resolute decision on the matter. The UK would go all out to help our country. HMS Illustrious, the largest carrier in the Royal Navy, was ordered to power its way to Leyte from Singapore — to a country that had been a colonial outpost, after all, if briefly, from 1762 to 1764. Or, oh well, okay, that was just Manila. 

Ahmad was very candid. And humble. He asked if he had been correct with his input as to where desalination equipment would best be deployed by way of boats. He said he had recommended the west coast of Leyte, away from Tacloban. We said yes, that would be preferable, near Ormoc, as the small coastal communities there would certainly receive help much later than Tacloban.

Participating in the lively discussion apart from Amb. Bautista were ESU-Phil chair and AdMU Humanities dean Dr. Marlu Vilches, Dr. Lourdes Montinola of FEU, author and editor Erlinda Panlilio, Gigi Virata, Brendan Egan, fellow Philippine Star columnist and poet-writer Ed Maranan, and yours truly — Bong, James Bong.

Ed and I had welcome gifts for Ahmad: our latest poetry books, maybe in the hope that our skills in our second language could at least match his own, in ours.

Hail to the new British Ambassador! Hail, Philippin-British relations, and hail, ESU-Philippines!

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Hearty congratulations to Fr. Jose Arcilla, SJ, the main author of Jesuits in Mindanao: The Mission, and publisher Ramoncito Cruz of Media Communications / Muse Books, for winning the 2013 Philippine Quill Award of Excellence in the Communications Skills Division, Publications Category.

Congratulations to many other sterling Jesuit writers who contributed to the landmark coffee-table book, which covers the intrepid exploits of the Jesuits in our deep South from as early as the 16th century. These include Fr. Joseph J. Lucas, Fr. James Edward Haggerty, Fr. Alfred F. Kienle, and Fr. James T.G. Hayes.

Many of the Jesuit missionaries who established religious and educational outposts in Mindansao were martyred. But their  legacy remains: the institutionalization of the Jesuit education system, as is presently exemplified in Mindanao by Ateneo de Cagayan (the first university in that island, since renamed Xavier University), the Ateneo de Zamboanga, and the Ateneo de Davao.  

The Publisher’s Note reads:

“This book is about our memories of struggles and the glories of the Sons of St. Ignatius of Loyola. They came by boat, hiked up mountains, and trekked on foot to reach distant and treacherous places in the mounains of Bukidnon and beyond.

“This book does not aim to tell the entire story of the mission in Mindanao. What it does aim to do is to give readers  a glimpse of how these missionaries lived their lives, travelling from place to place, bringing with them the good news.”

Well, congratulations to us all, as yours truly had the honor and privilege of editing the opus.

The Philippine Quill Awards are deemed as the most prestigious and comprehensive awards for business communication. The awards ceremony was conducted on November 11, previous to which five finalists had been anmounced by the International Association of Business Communicators (ABC) to be vying for the top prize.

Joining Fr. Arcilla and Monching Cruz onstage to receive the trophy were Fr. William Kreutz, SJ, former president of Ateneo de Zamboanga University; Fr. Herbert Schneider, SJ, executive director of Philippine Jesuit Aid Association; photographer Bobot Meru and Chris Bayani of Media Wise Communications/ Muse Books.

On November 16, the National Book Awards for the best titles per genre from the previous year were handed out by the National Book Development Board and the Manila Critics Circle.

Congrats and kudos to everyone, but most especially to our dearest friends, the poets Marne Kilates for Poetry in English for Pictures as Poems & Other (Re)Visions, Becky Añonuevo for Poetry in Filipino for Isa Lang ang Pangalan: Mga Tula, and Jimmy Abad for Anthology in English for Hoard of Thunder: Philippine Short Stories in Engush, 1990-2008 (UP Press). 

And to Marites Danguian Vitug who won for Best Book of Non-Fiction Prose in English for Hour Before Dawn: The Fall and Uncertain Rise of the Philippine Supreme Court (Cleverheads Publishing), Daryll Delgado for Best Short Fiction for After the Body Displaces Water, Edgar Calabia Samar for Best Novel in a Philippine Language for Sa Kasunod ng 909, and Michaela Fenix, Maya Besa and Felice Prudente Sta. Maria for Best Book for Leisure for Savor the Word: Ten Years of the Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing Award (Anvil Publishing, Inc.).

The rest of the titles cited above were all from University of Sano Tomas Publishing House, which deservedly won the Publisher of the Year Award, received by its dynamic team at the helm, director Jack John Wigley and deputy director Ailil Alvarez.