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Part I of the “Filipino-American Fourth Estate” Series
“It is better for the poor to live in a poor country than in a rich country,” thus explained Max V. Soliven, the dean and doyen of Filipino columnists.
In early June 1981, this author met Mr. Soliven at a wake for his close family friend. The deceased was my wife’s first cousin. After an hour of conversing with Dean Max, he asked if this journalism graduate cum book author could keep him company for the entire night. Thus, he and I discussed the Filipino Fourth Estate, especially his legendary criticisms of the Filipino dictator. This writer also asked if he had obtained a copyright for Unsolicited Advice, which he frequently used in his column articles. He said with a laugh that he did not own the copyright to the phrase. I could use it if I ever write a column in the United States, as I told him about my relocation to North America.
In our conversation, Max Soliven said that he believed that the days of the Filipino dictator were numbered. Because Filipinos, including op-ed writers and columnists, were already using humor as “the weapon of oppressed people,” especially the poorest of the poor. Little did we know that less than two years and two months later, Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., the top leader of the political opposition in the Philippines, would return to Manila from his exile in Boston, Massachusetts. And be murdered on August 21, 1983, at the airport tarmac by alleged military goons of the dictator.
After the EDSA People-powered Revolution of February 1986, many expected the new president, Corazon C. Aquino, the widow of Senator Aquino, to avail of the services of Max Soliven. Yes, even make use of his “unsolicited advice.” However, President Corazon Aquino filed an unprecedented libel suit against newspaper columnist Luis Beltran for writing that Aquino “hid under her bed” during a coup attempt. Mr. Beltran claimed he meant the expression figuratively, not literally, and apologized. The Court of Appeals later acquitted Beltran et al. of libel charges, saying his article was a fair comment and did not prove he knew details about Aquino’s bed. Max Soliven founded The Philippine Star newspaper, where Mr. Beltran wrote the alleged libelous column. Mr. Soliven was also acquitted in the same libel case.
This writer’s next meeting with Mr. Soliven was at a reception in Orange County, California. The event was organized by Ernie Delfin, a book author and occasional columnist, a few months before Mr. Soliven died in November 2006 in Tokyo, Japan, during a business trip. But at that Orange County meeting, this journalist was able to present Mr. Soliven his copy of my political novel, One Day in the Life of a Filipino Sonovabitch (1993), a book project of which he told him during their 1981 meeting. He was also thrilled to learn that I used his signature phrase, Unsolicited Advice, as my newspaper column’s title, debuting in November 1988 in Los Angeles, California.
In addition to writers in the Philippine Daily Mirror, there are other Filipino-American columnists who write about mainstream issues. This series will mention some of their writings.
“This series will feature other mainstream writings of Filipino and Filipino-American writers, especially in the field of politics and geopolitics. Filipino writers in the United States, Canada, and some European countries must not be content with writing principally about ballroom dancing and other mundane community happenings.”
“If I were the ‘Emperor,’ I would have consulted a think tank, which can give him short- and long-range options on some of the major decisions that he would take” — a comment posted by Joseph G. Lariosa in a column article of Perry Diaz of Sacramento, California entitled, Fall of the Emperor. Mr. Diaz referred to the Chief of the Staff of the Philippine military during the presidency of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. The general with the code name “Emperor” was previously the lady president’s military aide-de-camp. Mr. Diaz wrote his piece in his column, PerryScope, on June 24, 2010.
Mr. Lariosa was acknowledged by the Media Breakfast Club (MBC) as the “dean of Filipino correspondents in North America” on November 30, 2001, during an award ceremony at the Sheraton Hotel at Los Angeles International Airport. Chicago, Illinois-based Mr. Lariosa was one of 11 Filipino writers who received the “MBC-Dean Jose Reyes Award for Excellence in Journalism.” The awardees were also cited as journalists and/or columnists for 30 years of service, each in the Philippines and the United States.
One of the awardees, Romeo P. Borje, was finally acknowledged as the “dean of Filipino columnists of the United States.” He was the founding president of the Filipino-American Press Club of Los Angeles, established in 1976. Mr. Borje, like Mr. Soliven, passed to the Great Beyond in 2023. Ricky Rillera, then a columnist for the Filipino Express newspaper in New Jersey, attended it as one of the special guests. He is now the executive editor of the Philippine Daily Mirror. Joining Mr. Rillera in the 2001 awards ceremony were four top officers of the National Press Club of the Philippines.
This column discussed the topic No President Is an Island, But the Presidency Is Like a Continent on July 17, 2024, at this link.
The column said: “In other words, no president can decide alone, even if he (or she, someday) holds the sole power to order the use of nuclear weapons to start World War III. And make people extinct. But even in waging war, the American presidency can be compared to a continent. Because he (or she someday) has to consult with congressional leaders of the land, his national security advisers, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Defense Secretary, and all Cabinet members. Just as important as their inner circle, the POTUS has to consult with the country’s principal allies and even the heads of state of nations located on many continents (pun intended).”
This series will feature other mainstream writings of Filipino and Filipino-American writers, especially in the field of politics and geopolitics. Filipino writers in the United States, Canada, and some European countries must not be content with writing principally about ballroom dancing and other mundane community happenings.
