A birthday book and a nation builder

Birthdays have a way of making us look backward and forward at the same time.

As I marked my 62nd birthday, I celebrated another milestone in a writing journey spanning more than four decades: the forthcoming release of my latest book, Ramon S. Ang: The Heart of a Nation Builder. It’s a 324-page collection of my writings spanning eight years that started in 2018 in my Everyman column in the Manila Standard and The Outsider with Philippine News Today in California.

The occasion carries special meaning because the book marks my first foray into Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing or KDP platform. After writing and publishing more than 45 books in the Philippines, I am taking another step into the rapidly evolving world of global and digital publishing.

Then came an unexpected birthday gift: the book was approved by KDP on 21 September, my birthday. For an author and publisher, I could hardly ask for a more fitting present.

My writing journey began long before e-books, online bookstores, and print-on-demand publishing. Manuscripts were typed, photographs developed, layouts painstakingly assembled, and books reached readers primarily through traditional bookstores and distributors.

Technology has transformed publishing.

Today, platforms like KDP give independent authors and publishers the opportunity to reach readers around the world. For Media Touchstone Ventures Inc. (MTVi), which has produced books chronicling personalities, institutions and milestones in Philippine life, this opens another door for bringing Filipino stories to a global audience.

And few contemporary Filipino business stories are as compelling as that of business tycoon Ramon S. Ang, or RSA.

The title, The Heart of a Nation Builder, captures what I sought to explore beyond the businessman — the person, values, and sense of purpose behind projects that have become part of the country’s economic and infrastructure landscape.

RSA has become closely associated with the transformation of San Miguel Corporation from its traditional food and beverage roots into a diversified conglomerate with major interests in infrastructure, energy, fuel, power and other industries.

But numbers, revenues, and massive projects tell only part of any person’s story.

As a biographer, I have always been interested in the human dimension behind achievement. What drives a person? What values shaped him? How does he respond to challenges? And ultimately, how does success translate into something that benefits people beyond oneself?

These are questions that have guided much of my work as an author.

I had the privilege of serving as family biographer of President Fidel V. Ramos and historian of the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation. FVR often emphasized leadership, teamwork, and the responsibility to leave something better for succeeding generations.

Those lessons from FVR have stayed with me, including his mighty indelible red ink when he edited my manuscripts.

In publishing the Ramon Ang book, I returned to a similar idea: nation-building is not the responsibility of government alone.

Business leaders build industries and infrastructure. Teachers build minds and mold leaders. Journalists and writers help build informed communities. Environmental advocates restore forests and watersheds. Civic organizations strengthen communities. Filipino families build livelihoods, dreams and futures.

Nation-building, however, is a shared enterprise.

That is also why the word “heart” matters in the book’s title.

Infrastructure can be measured in kilometers, megawatts, passengers, or pesos invested. But development ultimately has a human measure: Does it improve lives? Create opportunities? Strengthen communities? Leave something better for the next generation?

These questions resonate with me even more as I turn 62.

After more than 45 books, decades of journalism and publishing, and years of civic and environmental advocacy through the Million Trees Foundation, I have become increasingly convinced that legacy is not merely what we accumulate.

On a personal note, the RSA book is also the foundation’s way of expressing our collective gratitude to RSA and SMC for serving as an institutional partner that paved the way for the development of the Million Trees Nursery and Eco Learning Center in its infantile stage.

Speaking of legacy, it is what we create, share, and leave behind. A book is one way of doing that.

There is something poetic about beginning this new publishing chapter on my birthday. The medium has changed — from printing presses and bookstores to a global digital platform — but the mission remains unchanged: to tell stories worth remembering and preserve them for generations yet to come.

As Ramon S. Ang: The Heart of a Nation Builder begins its journey to readers, I am reminded that a writer’s journey never really ends. The same gift and grace come from being welcomed last month by Daily Tribune publishers Willie and Chingbee Fernandez to become one of the paper’s columnists.

There will always be another story waiting to be told, another tree waiting to be planted, another opportunity to help, and another chance to build something that will outlive us.

At 62, that remains my simple credo: “Write the story. Plant the tree. Help someone. Build something that will outlive you.”