Tomorrow is Philippine Star founding publisher and columnist Max Soliven's 2nd death anniversary. Babe Romualdez today reports on the activities marking the anniversary. But he says there are "ignoramuses" who question why Soliven should get this honour.
I wrote a blog essay on Max Soliven in 2006. I think this answers the question why Max should get the honour. First of all Max was courageous as a writer-journalist and my father, a journalist and writer in his student days, recognised this and trusted him with his opinions of Ferdinand Marcos. This was at the height of the dictator's power.
Max can inspire. His talk to us high school journalists in 1984 has remained fresh in my mind 24 years later. What really does it mean to tell the truth? Max's life has answered this. He looked so dapper in a black suit. Max probably realised that this crop of students will play a vital role in the ouster of Mr Marcos two years later.
Too bad Max passed away without writing the book that would have detailed his adventures as a journalist. Another journalist who belongs to his generation Amando Doronila, recently published a book on experiences during the Sukarno years and konfrontasi in Indonesia. Too bad Max never had the chance to write a book. Like Doronila, he could have written a book about geopolitics.
As Babe Romualdez writes, there is only one Max and none there shall ever be.
I wrote a blog essay on Max Soliven in 2006. I think this answers the question why Max should get the honour. First of all Max was courageous as a writer-journalist and my father, a journalist and writer in his student days, recognised this and trusted him with his opinions of Ferdinand Marcos. This was at the height of the dictator's power.
Max can inspire. His talk to us high school journalists in 1984 has remained fresh in my mind 24 years later. What really does it mean to tell the truth? Max's life has answered this. He looked so dapper in a black suit. Max probably realised that this crop of students will play a vital role in the ouster of Mr Marcos two years later.
Too bad Max passed away without writing the book that would have detailed his adventures as a journalist. Another journalist who belongs to his generation Amando Doronila, recently published a book on experiences during the Sukarno years and konfrontasi in Indonesia. Too bad Max never had the chance to write a book. Like Doronila, he could have written a book about geopolitics.
As Babe Romualdez writes, there is only one Max and none there shall ever be.
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