Milflores Publishing, led by Attorney Andrea Pasion-Flores, has recently published two noteworthy biographies that will interest anyone who wants to discover more about the lives of prominent personalities who helped shape Filipino law and society.
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Rodolfo Biazon: Soldier, Solon, Statesman is the official biography of a soldier who later became a senator and fulfilled his life’s mission to uphold democracy in our republic.
The 308-page book, written by screenplay writer and lifestyle journalist Eric Ramos, traces Biazon’s life from his poverty-stricken childhood in Cavite to his later life as a respected elder statesman, who even in his last years stayed on point to defend the West Philippine Sea through dialogues with fellow lawmakers.
According to Senator Risa Hontiveros: “[Senator Biazon] is a true patriot who, when summoned by Inang Bayan, answers the call of duty. It is as if the WPS has its own honor guard, patrolling and standing by, no matter the odds.”
Ramos’ storytelling is fluid and enjoyable, and accessible to a wider audience. He had the privilege of speaking to Biazon himself over the course of writing the book, which was launched a month after the senator’s death on June 12 this year.
Biazon’s story serves as an inspiration for overcoming hardships and doing one’s duty in the face of inexorable challenges. He was his family’s sole breadwinner when his father died. His sister Norma said: “As a teenager, Kuya Boy [Biazon] did not have a normal life. At a time when boys his age would enjoy the company of friends in the neighborhood and classmates in school, he was always at home doing laundry work, or on the streets selling newspapers or cigarettes and, much later, doing construction work.”
After a difficult year as a working student at Feati University, Biazon realized his dream of entering the Philippine Military Academy, turning down a chance to go to the U.S. with a diplomat’s family (who wanted to adopt him), an opportunity to join the U.S. Navy, and travel to Australia to take a forestry course. His choices put him on the path to leadership – and the rest, as they say, is history.
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Silver is My Gold: An Alchemy of My Life by the Principle of Magis is a memoir by Adolfo S. Azcuna, who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines.
A consistent honors student at the Ateneo de Manila University (thus the ‘magis’ in the title, which in Latin means ‘more’ but for the Atenean means ‘the greater good’), Azcuna once wanted to become a priest but his fate took him to the law and government.
He divided his book into three parts: Preparation (Paghahanda), Profession (Panawagan), and Presentation (Paghahandog). The 80-year-old author wrote in his preface that this is the framework of his life so far, and uses it in this book to “capture the essence of these encounters with fellow humans and the Divine in the midst of pursuing a dedication to service above self.”
Azcuna was born in Zamboanga in 1939. His father was a lawyer and his mother was a school teacher from Luzon. Amid idyllic surroundings in the “quiet and sleepy” town of Katipunan and later in Sinuti, Misamis Occidental – “a magical place” – Azcuna spent a wonderful childhood even in the midst of the Second World War.
He later attended the Ateneo and applied to enter the Society of Jesus, but was told his vocation lay outside. So off he went to the Ateneo School of Law, eventually graduating cum laude.
Azcuna went on to bigger things – he was elected as a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention and appointed a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission; became press secretary, presidential spokesperson, and chief presidential legal counsel in President Cory Aquino’s cabinet; and was appointed associate justice of the SC in 2002.
These, of course, are not his only titles and appointments; you’ll have to read the book to know more. This is particularly a must-have for those interested in Edsa, the Philippine Constitution, the Cory cabinet, and lessons learned from a life spent in leadership and governance, and, as Azcuna said, “in service.”
And service is what Azcuna exemplifies throughout his life, even as he asks readers of his memoir to “join me in the prayer and the work to finally abolish poverty, at least extreme poverty, on Earth, even as we try our level best to save the planet for the future that lies beyond our years.”
Dr. Ortuoste is a board member of PEN Philippines, a member of the Manila Critics Circle, and a judge of the National Book Awards. You may reach her on Facebook and Twitter: @DrJennyO