WHY WAS IT PUBLISHED DESPITE EARLY WARNING?

Before lunch today, I got a surprise call from the right-hand henchman of Lino whom I supposed he was asked to contact me personally, "for old time sake." After all these years, I did not expect him to call for no reason at all except when it’s on the eve of Christmas or New Year. He didn’t beat around the bush but told me directly that the main purpose of his call was to invite me for a dialogue, the nature of which I’ve already imagined would be connected directly to the controversial manuscript that Lino pretends to have written by himself.

At first, he somehow denied the existence of the manuscript and told me that Lino couldn’t dare do such a thing. Therefore, I refreshed his memory by referring to the email he sent me in the summer of 2001 in which he told me that Lino really wrote a “book,” as what he proudly referred to, while his first wife was still alive and later dedicated it to her when she passed away shortly after. I wonder if he wasn’t joking or taunting me when he suggested why don’t I write a book, too.

If the dialogue that they were about to propose to me would be to take out my blog completely and to make me retract publicly from my statements posted therein, then I would tell him that it’s out of the question because it’s too late to do so as the matter is already out in the open for some time. How I wished that they could have taken me seriously and heeded to my fair warning in June 2001 on the consequences that may possibly arise from what they were doing at that time. (Please log on to http://www.ningaskugonbaga.blogspot.com and read the article entitled “Katotohanan o kabulastugan!”)

What made me so furious that I almost hit the ceiling was when he asked me who furnished me the copy of the manuscript. I told him succinctly that the Internet is a public domain and it isn’t too difficult to find any information once it is available online. He also inquired why I was angry at him and Lino taking into account that they didn’t do anything wrong against me. I explained to him the reason why I got pissed off on them but not mad at him was how he could have ever gotten himself involved directly or indirectly with Lino to commit such an unscrupulous and deceitful act of plagiarism by desecrating and betraying the memory of the country’s national hero to whose ideals they had pledged solemnly as a “knight” which they should maintain and uphold, if it were not to satisfy their thirst for greed of power and glory for their personal ambition of self-aggrandizement!

In order to save the most esteemed and highly respected name of Rizal and the true value of his works and teachings, Lino has no other alternative but TO RESIGN OR STEP DOWN FROM THE KNIGHTS OF RIZAL!