FRANKFURT, GERMANY – “Imagine growing up being told that your national hero — the one who sparked the liberation of your people from more than three centuries of colonization — was not a warrior with a sword, but a writer with a pen,” Senator Loren Legarda said in her keynote speech at the opening of the 77th Frankfurt Book Fair on October 14, 2025 at the Messe Frankfurt, where the Philippines is the Guest of Honour. With the eyes of the crowd on her and all ears intently waiting for each word, Sen. Loren welcomed the guests to a glimpse of the Philippines’ national hero, who was also a poet, a novelist, and a medical doctor: Dr. Jose Rizal.
In the words of Sen. Loren, Rizal “made imagination his sharpest weapon” to free the country and his people who suffered from colonial oppression. “It was not arms that colonizers feared most, but ideas — ideas that roused a nation and ignited the first revolution in Southeast Asia. Such is the power of literature. To us, Filipinos, to awaken, to resist, to liberate,” she stated.
Sen. Loren went on to share with listeners the bravery and wit of Rizal, who himself has spent time in Germany. It is here where he finished the last chapters of his acclaimed novel, Noli Me Tangere, that sparked a revolution in his homeland. It is also in this same work where the theme of this year’s fair, “The Imagination Peoples the Air,” was drawn from.
By the Neckar River in Heidelberg, Rizal also composed the famous poem A las Flores de Heidelberg. “A poem to flowers in Germany became a letter to his homeland,” as Sen. Loren described it.
Sen. Loren reflected how, just like Rizal, “imagination is the vessel that inspires our people of many towns and many spirits, across mountains and seas.” In the same way that Rizal has a fondness for Germany, Sen. Loren shared how she imagined 10 years ago for the Philippines to be a guest of honor at the Frankfurter Buchmesse. This stems from her deep belief that “Filipino voices belong among the world’s greatest literature.”
Capping off her speech on a strong, passionate note, she implored the audience to return to the truths for which Rizal gave his life, and through which, a nation rose: “We come to offer you a glimpse of our becoming, where literature kindled imagination; imagination awakened courage; courage compelled action; and action brought forth liberation. And if one book written by a Filipino on German soil awakened a nation thousands of miles away, long ago, imagine what we, together, can awaken today.”
