Legarda reclaims Rizal’s legacy

The 77th Frankfurt Book Fair officially opened Tuesday, with the Philippines taking the spotlight as this year’s Guest of Honor.

In a keynote speech, Senator Loren Legarda highlighted the nation’s history, cultural pride, and the profound strength of the Filipino imagination to the global literary community.

Legarda, who serves as chairperson of the Senate Committee on Culture and the Arts and is the visionary behind the Philippines’ Guest of Honor program, cast the initiative as both a literary homecoming and a cultural awakening.

“Ten years ago, I imagined this moment,” she said. “Knowing what I have always believed, that Filipino voices belong among the world’s greatest literatures.”

The senator’s speech traced the revolutionary journey of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal through Germany, noting his studies in Heidelberg, his poetic reflections along the Neckar River, and the completion of his seminal work, Noli Me Tangere, in Wilhelmsfeld.

“It was not arms the colonizers feared most, but ideas,” Legarda said. “Ideas that roused a nation and ignited the first revolution in Southeast Asia.”

The theme for the Philippines’ presence, “The imagination peoples the air,” is drawn from Noli Me Tangere and anchors the country’s literary tradition in works that provoke and liberate.

The Philippine delegation, composed of more than 400 writers, publishers, artists, and cultural workers, is presenting hundreds of titles and dozens of installations, performances, and conversations throughout the week-long fair, which runs until Sunday.

Legarda also used her speech to address urgent global issues, declaring that imagination “must not be gentle; it is a necessary fire.”

“Fire that burns away indifference. Fire that lights the dark corners where injustice hides,” the lady senator said, invoking the power of literature to confront tyranny, awaken conscience, and build solidarity across borders.