Comments on: Roxas: Chapter 1 (draft 8/14/02)

By: mlq3

mlq3 — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:19:58 +0000

Henry, we have no regulations. The only President to will his papers to the state without reservations was MLQ, there isn’t even a policy, on paper, on what constitute the official papers of presidents, how they are to be maintained, and at whose expense. I have not heard of people being given a hard time concerning either the Laurel or Roxas papers, while the Quirino papers are in the Ayala Museum and I don’t know if there are Osmena papers to speak of; the Magsaysay papers are lavishly endowed courtesy of the Rockefellers and I haven’t heard of researchers being given a hard time. On the other hand, the Quezon papers have according to some accounts, been steadily looted over the years and have suffered from pest and other damage. When I tried to put forward an official policy on presidential papers, the President wasn’t too keen on tying her and her successor’s hands.

By: Henry Ma

Henry Ma — Mon, 18 May 2009 13:15:02 +0000

Hello, Manolo. Do you use the Roxas archives and papers? I understand that they used to be at the National Library, but were moved to the Roxas Foundation (the same thing happened to the Laurel papers). I’m of two minds about that. On one hand, a private entity like the Roxas Foundation would take better care of those papers–hopefully. On the other hand, wouldn’t there be a conflict of interest, especially given family sensitivities in the Philippines? In the US, family foundations are more mindful of their responsibility to history and to ensuring researchers full access to papers. In the Philippines, well. . .

By: Current » The death of Roxas

Current » The death of Roxas — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 04:01:19 +0000

[...] first chapter draft actually begins with the arrival of Roxas’ body in Manila. Only in my draft eleventh chapter [...]

By: arvin

arvin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 00:11:23 +0000

IN the year of our lord 1948, in the hot summer month of July, the Philippines could look forward to celebrating its second birthday as an independent state.

I like this beginning line…this is akin to the beginning sentence of Churchill’s “A History of English Speaking Peoples”:

“In the summer of the Roman year 699, now described as the year 55 before the birth of Christ, the Proconsul of Gaul, Gaius Julius Caesar, turned his gaze upon Britain.”