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Professor
Roland G. Simbulan's new book, FORGING A NATIONALIST FOREIGN POLICY
(Quezon City: Ibon Foundation, 2009)
PRAISES
& COMMENTARIES : WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT THE BOOK
"
I strongly commend this book to all our countrymen....For the Filipino
is the key to resolve the challenges vividly portrayed by Professor
Simbulan....The Filipino is the answer to his own destiny."
- from the FOREWORD by Teofisto T. Guingona, Jr., former
Vice President and former Secretary of Foreign Affairs,
Republic of the Philippines
"This
book quite rightly articulates the Philippines' aspiration for sustainable
human development. Students of politics and history as well as policy-makers
will truly gain from this book that challenges the country to assert
national sovereignty and self-determination."
-Rep. Edsel Lagman, Vice Chairman, Committee on
Appropriations , House of Representatives,
Congress of the Philippines
"This
is how our young students can learn the crucial lessons of our past,
how teachers, advocates and activists can appreciate the contemporaneity
of events that continue to shape our country today, and how legislators
can craft the laws and policies that can propel our nation to its
rightful place in world politics, asserting a national identity
and pursuing genuine pro-Filipino interests. Prof. Simbulan's mission
to imbue or to strengthen a sense of nationalism in the reader,
while fully understanding the complex tapestry of our country's
past and present, is the unifying thread of this compelling collection
of lectures and speeches. But the most important value we can get
from this book is a sense of history -- of knowing what we, as a
people, have done in the past, what we can do today, and what we
can be in the future."
-Rep.
Luzviminda C. Ilagan, Gabriela Women Party,
House of Representatives, Congress of the Philippines
" At a critical time when the Philippines is debating its place
in the world, in history and its relationship to the United States
of America and the Visiting Forces Agreement is under review, this
enlightening and excellent book is just in time. Professor Roland
Simbulan has a unique personal experience, insight and knowledge
of what he writes in Forging a Nationalist Foreign Policy. It will
be a lasting resource book for generations to come. I recommend
it to all."
- Fr. Shay Cullen, Mssc, President, PREDA Foundation
People's Recovery, Empowerment & Development
Assistance, Olongapo City
"
As in his past works, Roland G. Simbulan reminds us of the unfinished
struggle ahead -- the need for a more vigorous mass-based nationalist
awakening that will once and for all put an end to foreign hegemony
and elite rule. Only a nation that is free can forge a truly independent
foreign policy at peace with the whole world."
- Bobby M. Tuazon, Director for Policy Studies,
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG);
Former head, Political Science Committee, University of
the Philippines (Manila)
"While
reactionary elements would amend the 1986 charter to eliminate its
nationalist and economic provisions and open the country to untrammeled
foreign exploitation to its resources, this book should serve as
a primer and reference book for those who love their country and
would like to effect genuine social change. Let us heed Simbulan's
call for people's call for people's participation in abrogating
the VFA and in forging a nationalist foreign policy."
- Elmer A. Ordonez, UP Emeritus Professor;
former Vice President for Academic Affairs, &
former Dean, College of Arts & Sciences,
Lyceum of the Philippines University
"Roland
Simbulan's book is a rare initiative that rekindles the indomitable
spirit of national integrity ingrained in the 1987 Constitution.
In today's confusing world, the book probes through the tortuous
road of paving a nationalist foreign policy obstructed by continued
U.S. military presence, made legitimate by the dictates of U.S.
visiting forces and bilateral immunity agreements."
- Etta P. Rosales, former Akbayan Partylist Representative,
& former Chair, Committee on Civil, Political and Human
Rights, House of Representatives, Congress of the
Philippines
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