THE Book

THE Book
My sister teaches at the Notre Dame University College of Mass Communication. She asked me to get her a book by Marites Vitug, Shadow of Doubt, as my birthday present for her. I went to google the title and found that it was sold only in selected outlets, one of which is the UP College of Law. I was coming to Manila so I texted a dear friend who teaches at UP to please please buy me the book. He said okay, and then the following day said that the book has been sold out, and that on Friday, it was going to be delivered at Solidaridad Bookshop in Ermita. I looked at my schedule and saw that we were free after 2 pm so I decided to go and buy the book myself.
When we arrived at the book store, two lawyers were already there, waiting for the books to be delivered. It seems that the books were coming from somewhere and the delivery man took the taxi and was caught in the traffic. Ian and I waited and joked and went through the book shelves of the little bookshop, so rich in one-of-a-kind books that if they were accepting payment by credit card, I could have bought so many! We waited and read, waited and read, waited and read for the next two hours... We read Julie Yap Daza’s “I did not marry you because I love you!” and other quotes from famous Pinoys. We browsed through Newsweek, Newsbreak, Time, the Business World, comic books, medical books, books on love and relationship, books on ... anything!!!!
Finally, the books arrived. We lined up (by that time, there were several others who came in already, having come and asked, went away and then returned...and finally decided to stay and browse much like what we were doing) and Ian was NUMBER ONE up there! In less than 5 minutes, I counted there were 8 books already sold and there was one more man waiting in line who said he reserved in advance for 5 books!
We were very happy to have our books, as Ian left for the airport and I went back to my hotel room. I wish to thank the author for coming out with this book. According to my dear friend the UP Professor, the author is now receiving death threats. It is only in the Philippines that democracy is so compartmentalized – it is claimed by everyone who wants to run for public office yet defined “a different way” by those who refuse to have their public office investigated. Sigh... only in the Philippines? Nah....