Synopsis "Don Daniel Maramba (in English)"
F O R E W O R D VERY FEW MEN - even among those who have dedicated their lives to the service of their country - possess a name with the luster and shine such as that of DANIEL MARAMBA Y BAUTISTA. Time and history bear eloquent witness to the greatness of the man who is known to his province-mates as "The Grand Old Man of Pangasinan," and once, when he came to solve a crisis his country faced, was dubbed by the whole country as its "saviour." Despite the fact that very few people remain who belonged to the generation of Daniel Maramba - there is no dearth of materials, rich with details, about his life ... his accomplishments. His public life is well chronicled - for it belongs to his country's history. But his personal life, what he was as a man - a friend, a husband and a father ... what Daniel Maramba was, not as a name with a claim to posterity, but as a living, breathing man who - even as he trod with the country's great to which company he belonged by right of his genius - also walked among men with clay feet - this has been the main theme of this biography. Daniel Maramba undeniably possessed that peculiar genius that stamps the architects of a country's fate - but he also possessed a heart that was - if not greater - just as great. He loved his country and his people with the passion of a lover for the beloved, which no pen can adequately portray. It only remains for the author to say that she has tried her best to be equal to the task of writing down the life of so great a man without being too overwhelmed by his greatness as to become impuissant - and hopes that, to some extent, she has succeeded. EDITH PEREZ DE TAGLE, MANILA, 1966 ------------ A P O L O G I A When the author was commissioned to write this biography, she naturally considered it an honor to have been chosen for the task. It was not until she had delved deeply into all available materials - in the National Library, in newspaper morgues and countless interviews with leaders of the country who personally knew Daniel Maramba and who still live ... with his relatives, his friends, his surviving wife, Doña Pelagia, and all his children as well as grandchildren - that she became aware of the enormity of the task and wondered if her pen would be equal to it. It has been with some trepidation that this work - already begun - proceeded with an increasing realization that the time given in which to write this biography was not enough ... that to do justice to the life of a man who played such an important part in his country's history, who possessed a character that was intensely idealistic at the same time that it was very human - more time in the writing was needed. EDITH PEREZ DE TAGLE, JANUARY 1966 OUR APOLOGIES in turn to Edith Perez de Tagle (1915-1984) for not having published her book until 35 years after she wrote it. One reason is that my uncle Felix D. Maramba (1897-1993) wrote a definitive biography of his father "Daniel Maramba: His Life And Times," in which he recounted the historical background of the times he lived in. Edith's book differs in many ways from that of my uncle. My uncle is an engineer, and he wrote something that read like a thesis - a tribute of a son to his father. Edith, despite a lifetime as an industrialist and businesswoman, was of literary bent, and wrote a book of engaging style, in frank admiration of her subject - a real labor of love. My uncle's book (1970) consists of his personal recollections. Edith's (1966) is the result of interviews with his wife, children and colleagues, who were still alive at the time of writing. We are publishing this book on my grandfather's 131st birth anniversary (July 21) and 60th death anniversary (December 27). Hilarion M. Henares Jr., 2001
