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The
Philippines,
A
Century Thence
(
An Open Letter to Rizal )
By
Ed Aurelio C. Reyes
[First
circulated on December 30, 1898 during a Rizal Day gathering at Fort
Santiago, Intramuros, Manila. First published in book form,
which also carried Rizal's original essay Dendro a Cien Años,
in time for book-launching at the National Press Club on February 1,
1990, exactly 100 years after the publication of the last
installment of Rizal's essay by La Solidaridad. And
published in second edition, with endnotes and addenda (including
photos and essays) in September 2007.
[The
title was based on the English mistranslation of Rizal's essay
written and titled in Spanish, "The Philippines, A Century
Hence." The accurate translation should have been
"The Philippines Within A Century." Author Reyes was
cognizant of this, but composed the title of his open letter because
the mistranslation has long been the more popularly known among
Filipinos, and its sense renders more significance to the timing of
release of the open letter. --EACR ]
General
introduction of this book in the On-Line Catalog (access
catalog)
This book carries the author's first open letter to Rizal a full
century after that national hero wrote "The
Philippines, A Century Hence"
making certain "fearless forecasts" on the future of the
Philippines within a century of his time. The open letter started a
"continuing dialogue" with Rizal by analyzing the latter's
accuracies and failures in prediction, continuing the story of what
actually happened in the century that followed, and offering to
Rizal a description of the present-day Filipino. It carries the
English translation of Rizal's original essay.
The
2nd edition adds explanatory footnotes, column items, and guest
articles, with one that relates mysterious occurrences when
author Reyes played Rizal in the latter's martyrdom centennial.
(see photos)
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