Manila Standard Supplement - The Road Never Ends

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2019 advertise@manilastandard.net

The

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Road Never Ends

“E

Attorney Emil P. Jurado

MIL, why don’t you write a book?” The truth is, a number of people have made this suggestion to me over the years.

I have always found these suggestions somewhat bewildering.

“Me, write a book?” I say. “I am not a movie star, hero, politician, or any kind of celebrity.”

This is true. I live my ordinary life one day at a time, like everyone else, and it just so happens that I make my daily living watching the world and basically telling people what I see. Continued on C2

Graduation photograph, Bachelor of Laws, Philippine Law School, 1954.

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The Road Never Ends

Dinner in Malacañang with former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, First Lady Imelda R. Marcos, Foreign Affairs Secretary Carlos P. Romulo (second from the left), and my wife Nining (extreme left).

“[Chronicling] his over half a century in Philippine journalism, The Road Never Ends is the pinnacle of Emil’s career, [covering] Philippine presidents from Carlos P. Garcia to Rodrigo R. Duterte, writing his insights on Malacañan Palace and passing them on to readers of his column. Emil Jurado belongs to the pantheon of Philippine journalism... with legends such as Doroy Valencia and Joe Guevara.”

—Alejandro Del Rosario, ambassador to Hungary and Poland; former publisher and editor-in-chief, and currently columnist, Manila Standard

The Road..

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Nonetheless, I have been doing this for nearly 70 years now, and, thinking about it, I realize that “what I have seen” has come to encompass quite a great deal. I guess that not everybody has had the privilege of getting to know ten Philippine presidents, or participating in the birth of Philippine television, or getting yanked off the street by menacing hoodlums!

Not that I would call that last part a privilege; it was certainly alarming at the time. Now, it does make for a good story. So I concede that I have managed

listen to my ramblings anymore. They can even skip to the good parts! If you are one of these people, it’s all right, I do not blame you, and look, here is the book!

I’m a journalist—a periodista, as we are called here in the Philippines—who also happens to be a lawyer. So this means that I can write journalistic things and legal things.

But a memoir?

I have been told that it would cost me a million pesos to hire a good writer and editor to help me turn my memories into an engaging narrative instead of the factual reportage that I am more comfortable with.

And then I would need another half-million to print and publish a book, and a half-mil-

With former President Corazon C. Aquino in Malacañang, with all the columnists, 1986.

to amass a sizeable number of interesting stories about fascinating events that I have been fortunate enough to witness, and fantastic people that I have been honored to meet. This is, I imagine, why people keep encouraging me to write a book.

It is also possible that I have spent decades driving people crazy with my stories­—of­ comforting­ the­ afflicted­ and­ afflicting­the­comfortable—and­they­secretly­ just want me to shut up and write them down already, so that they do not have to

lion more to market it.

Santa Banana, that adds up to two million pesos!

It is money that I clearly do not have, because the rewards of my chosen profession—no,­calling—are­not­financial.­ To my astonishment, Martin Romualdez, Leyte congressman and owner of Manila Standard, told me that he would take care of everything.

That­ floored­ me.­ I­ thought­ to­ myself:­ “Here Continued on C3

“Emil breaks out of the pack of memoir writers and gives us real-life narratives, with excellent...storytelling. As [he] narrates his storied life, particularly his seventeen libel suits and close association with the country’s top politicians and business tycoons...we become amazed and awesomely entertained. It is a memoir like no other.”

—Charlie A. Agatep, chairman & CEO, Grupo Agatep

One on one with former President Fidel V. Ramos.

The Road Never Ends

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With former President Joseph E. Estrada and my bosom friends, Ambassador Felimon Cuevas (second from right) and Atty.

Leonardo Siguion-Reyna (right).

Dinner with former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Atty. Pancho Villaraza of The FIRM (right).

In my 70’s with my wife in our home.

“When I was...general manager of the international airport...Emil took me to task for ‘doing little or nothing’ about the seemingly disorganized way that passengers and well-wishers were crowding around the airport premises. “Sir, give your former student some leeway,” I said. He replied with a smile, “I’m still being strict with you!”...Santa Banana, Emil turned from a mentor to a really good friend, whom I highly respect and admire.”

—Reli German, chairman, Agents International Inc.

Cecilia Kapunan Capistrano, who helped me recount my experiences and, when necessary, corrected my memory, not to mention endured my aforementioned agonizing.

I would also like to thank our children, Vic, Nina, Eric, and Nicky, who serve as my inspiration, and notably my daughter Nina and my sons Eric and Nicky, who have been instrumental in organizing what they keep calling my “legacy.”

Thanks go out as well to my good friend and 365 Club buddy Atty. Jesus P. Disini, who put me in touch with the right people to complete the book. He introduced me to

Dean Francis Alfar who, together with his wife Nikki (they are both Palanca awardees), edited the first edition of my book.

My eternal thanks to the both of them. I am likewise grateful to Lea Manto-Beltran (senior staff writer at The Manila Times’ Sunday Times Magazine) for patiently interviewing me and transcribing my recollections.

Last but far from least, of course, thanks to the folks at Manila Standard: Rollie Estabillo, publisher; Adelle Chua, opinion editor; and Jenny Ortuoste, columnist and writer, for helping me edit and complete this book.

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With former President Fidel V. Ramos and businessman Felimon Cuevas.

The Road..

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is a very generous man, and I can only thank him and be eternally grateful.”

Thus I spent the next few months polishing the drafts of my memoir, for no other reason than that I always take on a challenge.

I’d like to thank Martin, who is president of PHILCONSA (Philippine Constitution Association), a lawyer and banker, and his brother Philip, who is president of Benguet Consolidated Mining and former chairman of the Chamber of Mines. Martin was instrumental in the final completion, printing, and distribution of this book.

My thanks also to Roberto V. Ongpin— businessman, former Trade minister, and chairman of Alphaland, which has developed Balesin Island Club, Alphaland Makati Place, and The City Club, among many, including the upcoming Baguio Mountain Lodges, envisioned as the Forbes Park of Baguio City—for his spontaneous and generous contributions toward this publication.

Bobby Ongpin is also developing Patnanungan Island, near Balesin, for an international airport, a hotel, and beach houses.

I should probably warn you in advance that I will be speaking about many people in this narrative the way that I just did, with all their titles and often more. This may prove confusing from time to time, as I discuss this person whom I met when I was young, who later became such-and-such; or another person who I met when they were older, who used to be this or that. I hope that you will bear with me; memoir or not, I am still a journalist at heart, and would like to show you as well-rounded a portrait as I can, of the people whom I have been blessed to encounter—amiably or otherwise.

Other than those facts, my opinion and perception of people and events are entirely my own. The contents of this memoir are all from my recollection, as well as from available records which I have preserved through the years. I will not claim it is a flawless recounting; for any mistakes and shortcomings, I can only beg your indulgence, sincerely apologize, and remind you that this periodista has gone through many periods of time!

On that note, I must definitely thank my wife, my beloved palangga (which is like saying ‘my beloved beloved,’ that being what the latter word means, but she fully deserves both instances and more) Trinidad

“A pleasant and poignant journey through time, when... government rendered real service, money was...earned through hard and honest work, and people... adhered to time-honored values, the true, the good, and the beautiful. Of course, journalists were journalists, because they pounded their beats [and] checked their facts.”

—Tony Lopez, CEO and publisher, BizNews Asia

Listening. Understanding. Delivering.

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The Road Never Ends

Editing Emil

By Adelle Chua

I

’VE been opinion editor of this paper for more than 13 years, so I have been editing Atty. Emil Jurado’s column for that long.

He has been with this paper since it started, 32 years ago—and in journalism for decades before that. That’s some staying power.

He writes three columns a week, so if you multiply three by 52 weeks in a year and again by 13 years, this means I have read at least 2,028 of To The Point pieces—mind you, all of them written using a manual typewriter. Earlier on, Mr. Jurado sent these typewritten columns to the office via fax; later on, he found somebody to scan them and then send them to me via email— as JPEG or PDF attachments. This is still how we roll and I don’t expect any belated migration to a word processor.

It’s part of his charm.

Going through somebody’s copy, regularly and for a long period of

time, is an unusual way of getting to know him even though there is little person-to-person interaction. I feel that over the years, I have gotten to know Mr. Jurado well—in terms of the issues he chooses to write about, how often he writes about them, and of course, how he expresses himself.

When you’ve read someone as closely and as often as I have Mr. Jurado, you can feel like you’re carrying their voice in your head.

I’ve been adequately informed about numerous aspects of his life story. Over the years he has written about his time as a student at the At-

In front of the plaque of the 365 Club at the Hotel Intercontinental Makati.

eneo when it was still on Padre Faura, as a young journalist for a newspaper in Cotabato City, as a young man so smitten by the woman of his dreams, whom he pursued doggedly until she agreed to be his wife.

I have followed, and know all too well, the story of his pursuits as a business reporter and how he has managed to go full circle in print, radio and television over his decades-long career. I know which big figures in business and politics he came into contact with. I can guess pretty much his political leanings and where he stands on many issues.

And now these stories will be in a book—The Road Never Ends.

It never ends, indeed. At his age, Mr.

Jurado continues to write about his observations of what is happening in the Philippines, from the lens of somebody who has seen much, and done much. Talk about gravitas.

His book, which will be launched in January, is a fitting summation of a life well lived and a career well executed.

You really can’t separate Emil Jurado the man from Emil Jurado the journalist. Who he is is informed by his experiences and insights in his nearly 70 years in journalism.

The stories are compelling. They tell of the journey of a young boy from the province and who saw the best and worst of people during definitive times in Philippine history.

They are instructive. Mr. Jurado had

a way of getting into scrapes—and a flair for getting out of them, emerging better than before.

They are inspiring. They have a clear message to younger journalists like me and those who will come after. Atty. Jurado had the opportunity to practice a lucrative legal career, but didn’t. He stayed in journalism instead. It tells us that there are truly some things money cannot buy, and that journalists have a real chance to make a difference, no matter how small.

Congratulations, sir. It is quite an experience, knowing you from the copy you send me thrice a week, and being part of this book project. Let’s stay true to your book’s title—and keep the stories coming, Santa Banana!