MANILA, Philippines - A hot new backstory of the events leading to EDSA I in February 1986 is told in Exeunt, just off the press soon, the much-awaited last volume of Carmen Guerrero Nakpil’s autobio trllogy.
It is an exciting account of EDSA I before Cory and without the sentimental yellow ribbons of that American convict’s songhit. A group of young colonels in the AFP plot a serious, reformist takeover and are forced to make a last stand in Camp Aguinaldo with Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile. It takes up a whole chapter of the concluding book of the Guerrero Nakpil memoir. But it is only one of a series of unexpected revelations involving figures like Bubby Dacer, Ben Abalos, Makati Mayor Yabut, Australian and U.S. diplomats, American foreign correspondents and a raft of geriatric specialists.
The new book’s arresting title Exeunt is a term used in stage presentations to indicate one of the character’s leading the stage. The author uses it as her exit or valedictory after more than 60 years of journalism, essay writing and public service in the fields of political comment, history, and technology. It offers more photos, shorter text, the author’s usual with and humor, but is more introspective, combining serious reflections and flashbacks to old Ermita. The first two volumes of the Guerrero Nakpil trilogy, Myself Elsewhere and Legends & Adventures won the National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle and the Book Development Board.
Advance copies may be ordered now through Mobile +63 915 6212189, jeepneyrockstop.multiply.com or email guerreronakpil@gmail.com.