Carmen Guerrero Nakp ·
MYSELF, ELSEWHERE
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil
MYSELF, ELSEWHERE
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"Myself, Elsewhere" by Carmen Guerrero Nakpil Published & exclusively distributed by Circe Communications, Inc. (N akpil Publishing) 231 Ortega St., San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines Unit 809, Vicente Madrigal Bldg., 6793 Ayala Ave., Makati City, Philippines Tel.: (632) 817-2940 / Fax: (632) 816-0014 Email: nakpil@gmail.com Book designed by R.G. N akpil Cover: Portrait, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, Oil on ,'(Jnvas ~y Vi,-ente Manasa/a, 1949 Private Collection
ISBN 978-971-93760-0-2 Philippine Copyright 2006 by Circe Communications, Inc. All Rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Printed by VJ Graphic Arts, Inc., December 2006.
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"Myself, Elsewhere" is both an autobiography and a memoir of old pre-war Ermita. It is not the usual compilation of published essays, but entirely new and original material written in a few months in 2006. It covers the period between 1922, the start of what Nick Joaquin called Manila's "most glittering decade" and 1945, the destruction of Manila. The gentility of pre-war Ermita makes for dramatic contrast to the brutality of the battle that destroyed it. Writing at age 84 about her girlhood in Ermita before World War II, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, offers both the innocent candor of the young and the worldly wisdom of old age. Using flashbacks and fastforwards, Mrs. Nakpil provides historical background and foreground to the highly personal account of her early years and family history. This book also describes the cultural frame, the manners, and morals, gossip and intrigue of a small Filipino town on Manila Bay during the first h~f of the 20 th century and it does so with humor and also sorrow over its tragedy.
Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, journalist, author and public servant, was born in Ermita, Manila, into the Guerrero clan of that town. She studied at St. Theresa's College, Manila, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1942. Between 1946 and 2006, she worked either as staff member, editor or editorial columnist at the Evening News, the Philippines Herald, the Manila Chronicle (where she had a daily column for 12 years), the Manila Times, Asia Magazine and Malaya, in addition to contributing lectures, essays, short stories to other publications here and abroad. She has published seven other books: W01l1an Enollgh, A Question of Identity, History Todqy, The Philippines and the Filipinos, The Rice Conspirary (a novel), the Centennial Reader and Whatever. In the 1960's, she served as Chairman of the National Historical Commission and, In the 1990's the Manila Historical Commission, and director-general of the Technology Resource Center from 1975 to 1985. She was elected to the Executive Board of the UNESCO, Paris in 1983. Mrs. akpil was married to Lt. Ismael A. Cruz in 1942 and to Architect Angel E. N akpil in 1950 and was widowed twice. She has 5 children, Gemma Cruz Araneta, Ismael Guerrero Cruz, Ramon G. Nakpil, Lizza G. akpil and Luis G. Nakpil, two stepdaughters, Nina Nakpil Campos and Carrnina akpil Dualan, numerous grandchildren and a few great-grandchildren.