H.E. Rigoberto Tiglao, the Philippine Ambassador to Greece, was one of three guest speakers at the launching of Steve Psinakis’ book, “A Country Not Even His Own” at the Rockwell Center in Metropolitan Manila in July. The other two speakers were former close comrades of the hero Ninoy Aquino– former senators Heherzon Alvarez Jr. and Sergio Osmena III.

The book-launching was practically a jampacked reunion of anti-Marcos dictatorship activists – including President Corazon Aquino, Senator Joker Arroyo, and former Vice President Teofisto Guingona – representing the entire political spectrum.
Mr. Psinakis’ ancestors were from Crete, although they settled in the greater area of Sparta. As fate would have it, he ended up in the Philippines in the 1950s working for Meralco, and marrying Precy Lopez, the only daughter of the tycoon Eugenio Lopez. With the Marcos dictatorship persecuting the Lopez family starting 1972, with the Lopez scion Eugenio II put in prison, Psinakis, in exile in the US with his wife, became a key figure in the anti-Marcos movement to the extent that the dictator Marcos labeled him a ‘terrorist’. Mr. Psinakis’ book is both a personal memoir and an account of the struggle against the Marcos dictatorship. The book’s title, “A Country Not Even His Own,” is actually President Corazon Aquino’s words as inscribed in her formal citation to Mr. Psinakis in 1986 for his “Outstanding Service to Philippine Democracy.”

A Greek edition of Mr. Psinakis book is scheduled to be launched this October in Athens, published by the prestigious publishing company, Publications Fereniki. Mr. Psinakis has two nephews living in Athens, businessman Mr. Yorgos Psinakis, who has been very supportive of the Philippine Embassy, and the entertainment-industry executive, Mr. Ilias Psinakis.

Following is Ambassador Tiglao’s speech:

It is my honor and pleasure to speak on a book I and my wife Getsy enjoyed very much reading in the past few days, written by somebody whom I respect very much.

When Yorgos Psinakis, Steve’s nephew, who has become a dear friend of ours in Athens asked me to be one of the speakers tonight, there was no way for me to excuse myself. Steve probably doesn’t know that this but I owe him.

I had used Steve’s name without permission in Athens.

You see, when an ambassador presents his credential to the head of state of the host government, it is customary to have an audience with the head of state. This usually lasts at the most only 10 minutes, with the conversation really a ritual of sorts involving general statements, with each party trying hard not to appear bored.

I presented my credentials to President Karolos Papoulias in May 2006, and I was one of four ambassadors who did so in that mornnig.

When I remarked to him that there is a Greek who played a major role in our revolution against a dictatorship, his face brightened, and that was the start of a very lively conversation, with the President becoming keenly interested in the Philippines. This Greek of course is none other than Stavros Psinakis.

To appreciate Papoulias’ delight in hearing a Greek’s role in a revolution against a dictatorship, you have to remember that and Greece and the Philippines share parallel histories.

Both countries were under colonial masters for four centuries. We, by the Christian Spanish. Greece, by the Muslim Turks. This is one reason why both Greeks and Filipinos are passionate about freedom, why Filipinos and Greeks, I would say, are soul-brothers.

In modern times, Greece was under martial law for seven years under a junta of colonels, which were overthrown in 1974. We had our martial law era, about which Stavros’ book tells about.

Greek President Papoulias was a well-known socialist and an activist against the Junta. Similar to Stavros’ experience when he campaigned against the Marcos dictatorship in the US, Papoulias was abroad, in Germany, when the colonels grabbed power and he campaigned against the junta all over Europe.

So when I told President Papoulias that somehow there has been a strong Philippine Greek conection through Mr. Psinakis here, he was delighted and told me to get in touch with him if there is anything the Philippine embassy needs.

One big reason I found reading Stavros book extremely interesting is that I discovered something I didn’t know before, which is of personal interest to me.

In chapter 5 of Steve’s book, he relates the hunger strike in November 1974 of Mr. Geny Lopez and Senator Osmena after two years in a Marcos prison, and how Marcos broke his word when the two political prisoners ended their strike and the dictatorship, instead of freeing them, accused them of attempts to kill him.

To counteract the negative political impact to the regime of Mr. Lopez and Senator Osmena’s hunger strike, Marcos released 622 political prisoners to project an image that his was a humane dictatorship. To quote Steve’s book:

“The hunger strike of the two prisoners did not result in their own release, but it was not in vain. It resulted in the release of 622 other political prisoners”

One of those prisoners was my late wife, Raquel, who was released that December. The other one was yours truly, although I was released months later, in March the next year – nearly two years after I was imprisoned.

So it’s never too late to express gratitude: thank you, Senator Osmena, and I thank the late Geny’s family, and of course I thank Steve, the man who planned the Great Escape.

This brings me to why I think Steve’s book is important to our national consciousness, that it is not merely your ordinary memoir.

I had lived through much of the political turmoil Steve described in the book, and I spent two years of my life in Marcos prisons.

Many lives were lost, many lives were destroyed during those years, many of whom in the prime of their youth, really teen-agers or in their early twenties dreaming of creating a prosperous society of justice and freedom.

It is said that many of the best and the brightest of that generation of youth in the 70s were either killed or imprisoned by the regime, went underground to fight the dictatorship, or escaped abroad in a move that started the phenomenon of massive Filipino migration abroad.

And I find it extremely revolting that some who were propagandists or officials of that dictatorship claim that we have martial law today, or a version of it.

The reason for such rather falsehoods is that we have started to forget what Steve called in his book as the Dark Years. We have forgotten how ugly a martial law regime is, so much that some even taunt adventurists in the military to take over our democratic system.

Steve’s book indeed is a major contribution to our collective memory. His chapter on the assassination of Ninoy Aquino is a manifesto demanding for our nation to finally solve that murder that sparked a revolution.

But Steve’s book is also an account of a truly authentic life, how a human being can celebrate life in all its facets, from enjoying the magical days with one’s beloved, children, and friends to struggling for a noble ideal. What more in life can you ask for?
Thank you, and congratulations again to Steve, to Precy, and also to their daughter, Geni and their nephew, Yorgos.