Tuesday, November 28, 2006 Speak out: Lessons from Max Soliven By Harvey Ho Cebu City
I am not a close friend of Max Soliven. We are neither long-time associate nor relatives. I am just one of the common people he had met and chat with.
There are a lot of published articles being written to pay tribute to the man who loved this country dearly, reported stories with passion and courageously spoke his mind in his column. Let me write about what he had shown me.
Two summers ago, I was with my father attending the Roof Topping Ceremony of Lucio Tan’s Twin Tower office-hotel in Pudong, Shanghai. We were invited by Eddie Ong, a good friend of Tan for many years. We later joined the dinner party that evening in the Renaissance Yangtze Shanghai Hotel, where I worked for my summer internship at that moment.
While we enjoyed ourselves that night, my father suddenly told me that Max Soliven was seated a few tables away from us. I asked him who he was and my dad answered: “He’s our country’s opinion leader and a very well respected man. Let’s go and meet him.”
As we went over to his table, I thought he might feel a little awkward about meeting two strangers from Cebu. He was enjoying his meal and having a good laugh with his friends when we reached his seat and introduced ourselves to him.
To my surprise, he was very accommodating and easy to talk to. At the time, our country was in middle of a political turmoil, amid questions raised about election results.
We exchanged views about the political situation and related matters regarding President Arroyo’s future. Max Soliven shared his positive insights and showed us a copy of his article ready to be published in his column for the next day. He even offered to lend us his copy and nicely reminded us to return it to him afterwards since it was the only one he had.
Meeting Max Soliven was a humbling experience. I realized that he didn’t just show me a piece of paper but also expressed a great respect for every individual, confidence in what he does and optimism to his country. These are the character traits of a true leader defined in management books that we study.
But we seldom witness a true leader in action. And I’m so fortunate to have seen one.
Max Soliven’s sudden departure is a huge loss to all Filipinos around the world.
Let me express my many thanks to Max Soliven for his dedication and service to journalism and to his countrymen.
