Max V. Soliven: A final tribute!

Today, we bid our dear friend, my mentor and publisher of The Philippine Star a rousing goodbye, including a necrological service after the mass in Camp Aguinaldo and burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Indeed we are experiencing mixed emotions that the Chairman of the Board of The Star has gone to the great beyond to join media giants that created The Philippine Star, the late Betty Go-Belmonte, Art Borjal and Louie Beltran and yes including the late Alex Fernando and those who made this newspaper the number one in the country today. Somehow in its final farewell, The Star also gave Sir Max a final tribute by winning the 27th Agora Awards for Marketing. This aside from being Newspaper of the Year. Surely this was some kind of a big bang send off for Sir Max who made The Star what it is today.

It’s only right that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) posthumously conferred the Order of Lakandula award to Sir Max, the highest award to be given to a civilian; after all, we in the media have been dubbed the 4th Estate that supposedly lies in between the government and the people.

My final meeting with Sir Max was when I was last in Manila on Sept.25-26 and he asked me to join him for the Tuesday Club breakfast at the EDSA Shangri-La. When I left… we hugged each other as if he knew it was to be our last. Who would know that 59 days later he’d be gone? For people who believe in numerology, my father Jesus Avila died at the age of 59.

But having known Sir Max for 20-years, I would like to remember him when he was at his best. A year ago, he asked me to be in Manila for a farewell bash he was giving Chinese Ambassador Wu Hongbu. It was held at the O.B. Montessori Hall and as our dear friend, Johnny Litton wrote in his column Oh yes, it’s Johnny, "The dinner was enlivened by a Broadway-quality presentation entitled "Pinoy Pride" truly worthy of a Cecille B. De Mille extravaganza and put together by the talented and enthusiastic faculty members of the O.B. Montessori Center." Yes, thanks to his wife, Amb. Preciosa, she really gave a rousing Pinoy Style Broadway-quality show.

Johnny titled that column, "A Grand Farewell Show." Now it turns out that it was not just a farewell show for the outgoing Chinese Ambassador, it as also Sir Max’s way of saying goodbye to his friends on his last year on this earth. At the end of that musical extravaganza, Sir Max gave a speech… naming each single guest and telling a line or two about their friendship. That’s the Max Soliven I will never ever forget. No columnist alive could ever hold such a big bash for an outgoing Ambassador!

Sir Max and I shared many likes, like pipe smoking. He was a historian and I love reading about history, which is why I feel like I’m a little boy lost in a toy store whenever I drop by his office in his house. We would talk endlessly about certain historic events and when I ran out of material, he would give me references which books to read to get my history right.

We also shared the same passion for airplanes and ships. Obviously deprived of toys in his youth due to poverty, Sir Max bought a room full of tin soldiers, dioramas, tanks, warplanes and warships. Notable among his collection is the USS Missouri; the Iowa class American Battleship with 16-inch guns where the official surrender of the Japanese was signed in Tokyo Bay. It’s humongous at 15 feet long. Another famous warship is the Akagi the World War II Japanese aircraft carrier that brought the Japanese bombers for the sneak attack in Pearl Harbor. This was only around 8 feet long.

His warplanes are placed on the topmost shelf and he dared me to name them all. There must have been more than 50 of them and after I finished naming them, he said I only missed two. I told him that’s because the Mig-27 Flogger’s tail was hidden, I mistook it for a Mig-25 Foxbat. I missed only one. Then I proceeded to tell him what he didn’t have in his collection! Horrified, he asked me what he lacked. I told him that he didn’t have the famous De Havilland Mosquito and the B-24 Liberator bomber than bombed Cebu. By the time we were finished, it was almost midnight.

Perhaps it was only right for Mrs. Preciosa Soliven to cremate the remains of Sir Max, because I would rather remember him as a man full of life, which was the best way to describe him. Adieu my dear friend, I know because of our prayers and our full trust in God’s mercy you are with him today… a far better life than what you have left us all.

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Here’s also an emailed letter about Sir Max from a faithful reader.

"Greetings Mr. Avila. First of all, I would like to extend my condolences to Mr. Soliven’s family and to his colleagues as well. It is such a great loss for our country that one of its most respected journalists passed away. But come to think of it, his passing should serve as an inspiration to us Filipinos.

Every time I get a copy of The Star, I always look forward in reading his column along with yours. His insights and other facts give me daily doses of information that I cannot get from other broadsheets. The same as you, He was my inspiration in writing opinions about current events. There was one time I got to shake his hand during one of his speaking engagements in the Ateneo about responsible journalism.

At present, I get mad at journalists who throw various accusations to the First family about their alleged corruption and abuse of authority. Even congressmen joined the ruckus. No wonder libel suits are filed by the FG. It takes simple logic why the FG is doing this. Like any other man, he just wants to protect his family. If these journalists don’t have solid proof about their allegations, they might as well write something else. They always say they are the vanguards of truth and that people have the right to know, then they must prove it. Problem is these journalists always claim that the First Family doesn’t allow them to see their bank accounts. What is there to see?

The German bank even issued a certification that they do not have bank accounts in their care. The burden of proof lies with the journalists, if they cannot prove it, it is good for nothing. Giving scathing remarks and unfounded allegations is not journalism, it is already bordering to unjust vexation and well, libel. This is where Mr. Soliven deviated and a true testament of him being a real journalist. He does not concoct stories. He wrote columns but I never read anything malicious. He did not thrash politicians and other people for that matter. That is because he does not shoot when he does not have the bullets to back it up.

For me, that’s the real trait of a responsible journalist. We are aware that journalists must speak the truth but please do it Right! It is after all for all our sake. Again, I thank and salute you, Mr. Soliven. You will surely be missed by everyone. Thank you and more power.

Colin Antig Email: [email protected]"

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns in the Freeman can also be accessed through The Philippine Star website. He also hosts a weekly talkshow entitled, "Straight from the Sky" shown every Monday only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 on SkyCable at 8:00 p.m. Bobit’s columns can also be accessed at www.shootinginsidecebu.blogspot.com