Francisco 'Dodong' Nemenzo remembered

Read this in The Manila Times digital edition.

IT'S been nearly four weeks since the former University of the Philippines president, Francisco "Dodong" Nemenzo, passed away. Christmas has come and gone; the nation is preparing for another election in the midst of political turmoil and economic uncertainties. In other words — business as usual in the Philippines, the very kind of business that Nemenzo thrived in.

I had the privilege of meeting Nemenzo in Cebu City sometime in the late 1990s. My memory is full of holes, but I think it was the local chairman of Bisig, the political formation of which Nemenzo was the founding chairman, who invited me to a small gathering where Nemenzo was going to speak. I was thrilled to meet a man whose article about the Philippines had been a valuable source of insights into Philippine society when I worked on my master's thesis on peasants, landlords and political power in the Philippines. The year was 1990. This was before the internet and Google. While I had access to the finest public libraries in Copenhagen, my place of residence, literature relevant to my chosen topic was limited and mostly written by First World authors. Nemenzo's article (whose title I've regrettably forgotten) was one of the few published materials written by a Filipino author that I was able to find.

RESURGENCE