Twenty editors of campus newspapers from the period of 1969 to 1972 are launching SERVE, a book that tells their stories from the period before, up to, and beyond the country’s martial law regime.
SERVE to be launched Sept. 9, 2023 at Fully Booked, BGC
SERVE, published by the Ateneo de Manila University Press, will be launched at Fully Booked at the Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, on Sept. 9, 2023, from 5 to 9 p.m..
Topics covered by the 20 authors go from their individual discoveries about faith and politics to their common epiphanies about economy and government, and from their personal encounters with desecrations of human rights, the environment, children and women to their collected memories about a life and a time that, pared to its minimum, were both unkind and dark.
“They were fearless college editors from 1969 to 1972,” the book cover reads. “Martial law profoundly changed the course of their lives. Here are their stories.”
It is a testament to their spirit that, today, they choose once again to be fearless and reveal their life’s learnings.
The book’s authors are: Alexander Aquino, Elso U. Cabangon, Jones T. Campos, Sonny Coloma, Bob Corrales, Mercy M. Corrales, Butch Dalisay, Manuel M. Dayrit, Jaime A. Florcruz, Senen D. Glorioso, Eduardo T. Gonzalez, Diwa C. Gunigundo, Sol Juvida, Derly Magcalen, Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon, Thelma Sioson, Chito Sta. Romana, Judy M. Taguiwalo, Angie Tocong, and Rey Vea.
A sequel to the book Not On Our Watch (2012), edited by Jo-Ann Q. Maglipon, SERVE is also edited by Jo-Ann, a journalist of 47 years.
“This is not a book by old people reminiscing about old times, like our elders might of the war,” says Jo-Ann. “Not that there’s anything wrong with personal bits of history, even of a war from just 78 years ago or a dark regime from just 51 years back. These, in fact, may exactly be what we need to get to know us and country better. That said, all the stories in SERVE have everything to do with today. Writers have taken care not to indulge. Always, they were aware that others need not be interested in them or their lives, but they offer forward pathways anyway for any budding patriot interested.”
In a stirring Introduction, foremost writer Butch Dalisay writes: “I find it hard to tell another generation of young Filipinos that the patrimony of peace, freedom, justice, and prosperity they thought they would inherit from us has been lost, and that they will have to fight to recover it for themselves, as we did in our time. Martial law was our defining hour. In our late teens and early twenties, flush with idealism and energy, we acted to bring radical change to Philippine society, which we believed was being ravaged by a combination of foreign and local forces intent on plundering our economy and establishing a dictatorship.”
The authors were actively involved in the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), an alliance founded on July 25, 1931, by four college student publications: The National of National University, The Varsitarian of the University of Santo Tomas, the Philippine Collegian of the University of the Philippines, and The Guidon of Ateneo de Manila.
Karina Bolasco, the country’s premier publisher and immediate past head of the Ateneo Press, is guest speaker at the launch.
Copies will be available at all Fully Booked shops. and online at the following channels: www.unipress.ateneo.edu; go.ateneo.net/Lazada; go.ateneo.net/Shopee; books.unipress@ateneo.edu
