Julian Malonso
By Jose “Lito” Mendoza HS ‘57
I bought my copy of Col. Malonso’s MEMOIR last Tuesday, February 3, 2009. I understand Eugene Sy paid him a visit and picked up quite a few copies for distribution in Letran. I got the “buena mano” copy and proceeded to my favorite reading chair when I got home. As expected, I let go only after I finished reading the book at 2:00 A.M., interrupted only by dinner.
The last time this happened was when another friend lent me a book on the fall of Bataan and the ensuing Death March written by a survivor. This happened two months ago. In it, I read about people and places familiar to me. I guess that explains my fascination for both books.
In Memoir, people familiar to us through the years pay tribute to Malonso for his” Magnum Opus” and more familiar people enact the events chronicled by Malonso. It is not difficult to conclude that he is the hero of the book though he tries many times to downplay his achievements to sometimes-comic proportions.
Thru the years, my favorite defense of Malonso has been “he may be spit acid at times but this man does not speak with forked tongue. Painful but true. “ In his younger years, he did not apply his knowledge of rhetoric as he does now. In the more than 50 years I have know the man, I have learned lessons I am certain he has seen me apply to my own life. The principled life he has led is inspiring. It helps that he was able to apply his principles because he lived in a “Clear water era” of principled men and women. As the late columnist Teddy Benigno calls them — the greatest generation of Filipinos ever.
Malonso so adeptly namedrops, nay, gives us an instant family tree of his characters.
I agree with the Colonel that the book should be longer. More than 15 years ago, when we had a dry run of a walk around Intramuros for an LAA project with Ramon Lopez and a few LAA Directors, he shared more juicy info than the book contains. I am certain he will deliver more pages given more time and energy. I think he will because I did not notice any prelude to “goodbye” in the book. An occasional apology for growing old, yes, but he writes it with such humility that one feels the Lord will give him more years. In this age of false diplomacy, candor is alive in the person of Lt. Col. Julian Mota Malonso.
Author was a former student of Col. Malonzo and Former Athletic Moderator of Letran. |
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