It’s automatic for me to feel happy about a friend who had written a book that’s now available in the market. As a book writer myself I’ve been savoring the feeling of seeing one I wrote packaged in book form.
That blogger-turned-podcaster and now book author Jay Aruga used to be my bandmate makes this feat acknowledgment extra special.
Whatever an author discusses in a nonfiction work is a showcase of his voice and depth regardless of the subject matter. This character knew from the get-go that he was one born-ready to embrace both conservatism and controversy to some extent.
Well, he self-dubbed The Jay Aruga Show, The first conservative podcast in the Philippines, and then titled his book Conservative Ka Ba? A 3-Step Approach to Protecting the Filipino Family from Woke Ideology.
That’s a topic to delve into for a first-time author. I am not surprised. I’ve known Jay Aruga as a thinker who can pull surprises. He proved that when he played for my old band Syato at some point before we got signed, or after he decided to leave due to offshore commitment. And then when he participated again in another band venture involving me and a songwriting partner from my teenage days.
So on that note let the guy do the talking on his choice to tackle something about the current world scenario: “I chose this topic because I aim to wake Filipinos from wokeness. It’s an attempt to preemptively stop this destructive ideology before it even invades our shores. I also aim to equip pro-family Filipinos when they have these hard conversations but in a charitable way.”
If that sounds quite deep, let me tell you that there was a moment when this friend of mine went into a Syato rehearsal and presented a composition of his that was way different from our basically pop creations. Hearing his song I was both impressed and baffled. He was way ahead of the ride.
A few years later, under a short-lived band, we were both into that he suggested calling Cosmics, we demoed another tune he wrote and called “Vaikuntha,” which I happily played bass on and that he later used as the opening theme to his podcast.
Take it from me. You always have to ask what Jay Aruga is up to.
Picked by St. Pauls Publishing, which now carries it in its branches, Conservative Ka Ba? is in essence a kind of personal gift to celebrate some five years of podcasting. He revealed that he often writes a 10-page script per episode, some of which became his foundation for the book’s content.
According to the author, “The West right now is on the verge of societal decline, with their birth rates plummeting and broken families not being the exception, but the norm. They can’t even define the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ these days.”
He added, further hitting at the woke culture, “Every day something weird and crazy comes up, like the service crew who was asked to stand for two hours for misgendering a person who identifies as trans, the non-binary who went to a female bathroom and had an altercation, and the Paris Olympics controversies.”
Used to dealing with bashers, Jay Aruga welcomes everyone to chat with him at this September’s Manila International Book Fair in SMX where he will launch his book.
The new author who has a day job as an electronics engineer expressed his love for reading philosophy and theology books. He noted that his main influence as author-podcaster is a Catholic speaker named Trent Horn whom he had interviewed twice in his podcast and quoted the most in his book.
His inclination to things Catholic naturally draws him to speaking engagements for a number of Catholic events.
Small wonder he believes that divine providence set up a series of connections that led him to the right person to send his manuscript to. TV personality Sam Oh became a catalyst for this when he interviewed her on his podcast.
Jay recalled, “Through Sam, I met Bernz O. Caasi, creator of the podcast Unboxing Catholicism. Through Bernz, I met the head of St. Pauls marketing, and host of PadsCast Fr. Albert Garong. The good priest and I became friends and through him, I submitted my manuscript to St. Pauls.”
I first met the opinionated conservative when he was a guitarist in a band called Sando. Their mate Mike Santos also became our original drummer in Syato and it was Mike who pulled him into our team.
Nevertheless, the man’s musical aspirations took a backseat when he started raising a family. He said he could no longer sustain being away from family doing gigs at night.
As for being a songwriter, Jay Aruga still longs to convey his message. It led him to blogging and podcasting. He pointed out, “I think it makes sense when a songwriter is transitioning to become an author because you bring that care of choosing the right words with you.”
His advice to first-time authors: fight procrastination. He closed out, “Writing one page a day is better than not writing at all. If worse comes to worst, analyze what’s hindering you from writing, eliminate that excuse, and just write your heart out.”
