Message of Senator Loren Legarda Press Conference Philippines Guest of Honour, Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 | National Library of the Philippines, Manila | September 4, 2025

Friends, colleagues, and partners in culture, thank you for joining us today. It is inspiring to look back and reminisce about how our journey started. What was once a distant dream has now become our present reality.

When I first envisioned the Philippines as the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, some felt that it was far too 2 ambitious, that we were too diverse and too complex for the world’s largest book fair to embrace. But I believed then, as I believe now, that our diversity is our greatest advantage, a gift and never a hurdle.

The Philippines is more than an archipelago of 7,641 islands. It is a vast constellation of ideas and innovation, of ingenuity and distinct cultures and traditions joined together by the tides of hope and resilience. The 135 languages identified and described by the Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino turn into the voices and stories of Filipinos 3 resonating around the world, reaching across cultures, transcending borders, challenging assumptions, and expanding the boundaries of human empathy.

Over 400 Filipino delegates, authors, illustrators, artists, publishers, and cultural workers, will soon fill the halls of the Frankfurter Buchmesse. They all carry with them stories shaped by the currents of our islands, the hopes of the everyday Filipino, and our commitment to build bridges through literature.

The courage we have today to engage, inspire, and move the world should be credited to the intellectual bravery embodied by our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Rizal was once a young Filipino scholar in a foreign land, searching with an essential thirst for ideas, belonging, and conversation. Traveling from Heidelberg, he found poetic inspiration, writing poems like the “A Las Flores de Heidelberg,” sending home messages of yearning. In the hospitality of Pastor Ullmer in Wilhelmsfeld, Rizal found the solace and affinity to write the last 5 chapters of Noli Me Tangere. And in the intellectual society of Berlin, he completed a novel that would reshape and rewrite our history.

His journey influences the spirit with which the Philippines now steps into the oldest and most prestigious global book trade: the belief that our stories and aspirations extend meaning that exceeds our borders, and that the Filipino imagination has the potential to take root and grow anywhere in the world.

In keeping with this spirit, before going on our journey in Frankfurt, we gather here in 6 the National Library of the Philippines to also launch the exhibition, “From Calamba to Frankfurt: Jose Rizal and the Frankfurt Book Fair.” This exhibition, which I conceived and is curated by NHCP Commissioner Lisa Guerrero Nakpil, allows us to reflect on Rizal’s creative journey, his transformative years in Germany; the untold story of Noli Me Tangere in Rizal’s own narration; and, Rizal’s gratitude to Pastor Ullmer. The letters put together in this exhibit remind us of the bonds of friendship and solidarity Rizal nurtured. Such are the foundations we still 7 walk upon today, traversing from then to now, continuing a dialogue that Rizal started.

At the center of our participation as the Guest of Honour, is our 2,000-square-meter Philippine Pavilion, guided by the theme “The imagination peoples the air.” Curated by Patrick Flores and designed by Stanley Ruiz, the Pavilion feature native craftsmanship that uses rattan and bamboo to create spaces where old forms find new purpose, and tradition becomes a living canvas for imagination and connection.

Over 500 Philippine book titles will be within 8 reach, amidst the work of Gary-Ross Pastrana, Mervin Malonzo, and seminal artist David Medalla, infusing the atmosphere of the pavilion with the emotions that stimulate curiosity and invite reflection.

Throughout the week, there will be over a hundred public talks, readings, and performances that will engage with some of the world’s most urgent questions, touching on topics such as human rights and democracy, climate change, children’s literature, spirituality, race, and the spectrum of identity.

Among the voices taking part is that of National Artist Virgilio Almario, whose presence deepens the meaning of our program, affirming how Filipino literature shapes both our memory and our future. Filipino creativity will be felt in music and poetry with each session closing on a note of inspiration from artists such as the Kuwerdas Filipinas, the Madrigal Singers, our national living treasure Rosie Sula, and performers who connect our past and present. Our presence will extend far beyond the Pavilion.

Throughout Germany and Europe, Philippine art, literature, and film will spark 10 new conversations through museum partnerships, literary festivals, readings, and exhibitions We go to Frankfurt not in search of approval, but to share with the world our stories that smell like sampaguita and sound like our indigenous chants, tales that taste like adobo and feel like warm rain on thirsty fields. We offer narratives rooted in our soil, narratives on bayanihan that provide models for community resilience, narratives of colonial survival suggesting blueprints for decolonizing consciousness, and narratives of environmental stewardship leading to pathways toward sustainable living.

When we finally emerge and witness the Philippine pavilion unfold in Frankfurt this coming October, welcoming audiences from 92 countries engaging with Filipino stories, and watch our writers share stages with some of the world’s greatest literary figures, I want you to remember that it all began with imagination and the belief that our stories have the right to claim the world’s attention and recognition.

The imagination peoples the air, and we are ready to breathe new life into the world’s understanding of what Philippine literature means. Ours is not just beautiful stories, but essential ones that the world needs to hear, engage with, understand, and appreciate.

Thank you at isang luntiang Pilipinas sa ating lahat.