TWO thousand eleven is the same as 2010 and the year before that.
That’s as far as the number of books I’ve read is concerned.
For the past three years, I’ve read 28 books annually, failing to meet my goal of finishing 30 books a year. My record year still is 2008, when I read 30++ books, including comics, short novels, and a New Yorker issue cover to cover.
Cropped from the invite of the book's launch
A frenemy made me do it.
Yes, a frenemy: someone I hadn’t seen, heard from, let alone hung out with in the past three years; a period in which I switched civil statuses, apartments, and jobs (in that order).
From out of nowhere, the guy called me up, asked me how I was, and offered me to become a part of something worthwhile.
Alran Bengzon, author, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, among others.
Two beers and peanuts — that was the bet.
However, something else was at stake.
It included my self-respect and net worth, both of which have remained at abyssmally low levels for reasons far too complicated to explain, like the President’s thinning hair.
If I agreed, I was pretty sure that whatever was left of my pride and whatever remained of my pesos would be shortly wiped out.
But then again, it was a friendly bet.
Whatever the result was, whoever wins or loses, it was always a reason for celebration; a time for friends to get together again.
Red Constantino, author and Chief Prankster of the Kamuning Republic, wagered that I would be unable to fulfill my vow of refusing to buy any book until the year ends. [See: Red Constantino]
That’s what he said when he wrote comments to a previous blog entry. [See: graphic below, blog entry]
Karl B. Kaufman, friend, ex-co-worker, and a heavy metal fan, also expressed his sentiments, jocular as expected. [See: Karl Kaufman]
In any case, I may already owe Red a beer or two and a platter of roasted highland legumes.
Why?
I may soon buy another book. The one I’m reading now has a major misprint.
On Monday night, while absorbed in Alran Bengzon’s A Matter of Honor — which was about the negotiations covering the US Military Bases in the Philippines — I discovered that I read one passage twice. [See: Alran Bengzon]
The page after the page I was on — 154 — was not 155. It was 91. And the pages 155 to 170 were nowhere to be found.
I “received” the book from the author himself, who, when he was Health Secretary of the late President Corazon Aquino, was appointed as vice-chair of the panel that negotiated with the Americans regarding the US military bases in the Philipines.
In the late nineties, a few years after his book was published, I was able to sit down and interview Bengzon when I was still a reporter for BusinessWorld.
To help me write my feature story, Bengzon was kind enough to lend me the book on the condition that it would be returned.
Like the Rapture, that never happened. (Again, my sincerest apologies, Secretary Bengzon.)
Instead, more than a decade later, while reading his book again, cover to cover this time, I encountered the major printing error, which in turn, has prompted me to admit that yes, Red Constantino is right on the money.
I plan to buy another copy of Bengzon’s book, if only to read the 16-page gap, all before the year ends.
After all, A Matter of Honor is worth every word, prompting Filipinos to think about how they think about their country.
“We must teach ourselves, as individuals and as a nation, to permit no separation between ends and means, between who we are and what we do, between serving the truth and getting ahead. Then and only then can we finally build the nation of which we all dream — a nation that will be peaceful and proud, prosperous and free.
The book is also about how Filipinos kicked the US bases out in 1991 despite internal challenges, both political and economic, that the government was facing at that time: incorrigibly corrupt officials, a restive military, record amounts of foreign debt, escalating oil prices, depleted dollar reserves, a devastating earthquake, a paralyzing volcanic eruption, donor fatigue, among others.
All these and more are weaved in A Matter of Honor, an excellent historical narrative written by Bengzon with assistance from Raul Rodrigo. (And to think that I’m just on page 154.)
Having said that, a new and hopefully error-free copy of the same book might be hard to come by.
I was told by a National Book Store staffer that their only remaining copy is at the Mall of Asia branch.
Question now is: Will I make that two-hour trip to Pasay from Quezon City just to buy the book?
That depends.
I might just ask NBS to bring it to a branch close by.
Or I can have someone in the area, some good soul, to buy it for me. I’ll pay him back, of course.
Who knows? I’ll probably throw in a beer and a platter of peanuts for good measure.
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From the Credits Dept. Picture of Alran Bengzon from the Ateneo Graduate School of Business website which can be visited from this page just by clicking on the photo.
