Book
XYZ Files: An Anthology of Controversies and Issues, Anecdotes and Trivia about
Fidel Valdez Ramos
Published by the Ramos Peace and Development Foundation and Media Touchstone Ventures Inc.
356 pages
By Nickky Faustine P. de Guzman
A week before the 31st celebration of the People Power Revolution, former President Fidel V. Ramos, one of the event’s major players, launched a book called the XYZ Files and pushed for the long-overdue EDSA Learning Center.
“I see this volume of my anecdotes, stories, and quotes as just this, a non-political, noninvasive tool for people empowerment. It’s my honor to continue my advocacy as a military officer defending our country, and as former president. As I have always said before, I may have retired from office, but I have vowed to continue to be a reformer,” said Mr. Ramos in a statement.
During the book launch on Feb. 15 at RCBC Plaza, the former President said he is pushing that the long-delayed EDSA Learning Center — which was initially suggested during his administration but did not push through because of a lack of funds — finally be set up.
“Hopefully, the President [Rodrigo Duterte] would issue an Executive Order to make available about 2.5 hectares inside the military camp,” said Mr. Ramos. His proposed EDSA Learning Center would be at the back of the People Power Monument at the corner of EDSA and White Plains Ave., and would be interactive, and would contain all the data about the EDSA 1986 People Power Revolution, which can be accessed by anyone, any where vis the internet. EDSA and its controversies are among the topics discussed in his new book. The 356-page book is divided into three parts: trivia about Mr. Ramos (it turns out that he is a master scuba driver), issues and controversies, and a collection of anecdotes from journalists and former cabinet members who know him.
Each topic — from good governance, to peace, EDSA, and intimate information — is short and digestible.
“It’s about time we rediscover him: as a father, a statesman, a leader for this generation and the generation to come to appreciate his legacy. The idea is to put him in proper perspective, the ideas many people don’t know,” Melandrew T. Velasco, former Secretary of Department of Interior and Local Government under the Ramos administration, told BusinessWorld.
Mr. Velasco compiled the book and is the Ramos family biographer.
The 88-year-old former president already has 30 books under his belt.
XYZ Files: An Anthology of Controversies and Issues, Anecdotes and Trivia about Fidel Valdez Ramos is produced by Ramos Peace and Development Foundation and Media Touchstone Ventures Inc. But the book is not available at leading bookstores.
“We are not distributing it, because when you put it in National [Bookstore], they usually get 60% to 65% [of the book price]. Talo ang author and publisher (the author and publisher lose out) — it’s just bragging rights,” said Mr. Velasco.
The book is intended for libraries, “Sad to say, Filipinos are not book readers unless it’s a required text book. It’s for the libraries,” he said.
For more book information on the book, e-mail fvr@rpdev.org.
