Senator Loren Legarda honored the deep cultural ties between the Philippines and Germany, reflecting on what was once an ambitious dream for the Philippines to take center stage at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest and most influential book fair.

“When the Philippines made its modest return to the Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2015 after a 15-year absence, I dared to ask, ‘Why not the Philippines as Guest of Honour?’ I took this as a personal mission,” Legarda said in her speech during the closing program of the five-day visit of the German media in the Philippines on May 20.

Legarda, the visionary behind the Philippines’ Guest of Honour (GOH) role at the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse, described the long road that began with early talks in 2017 and continued through the uncertainties of the pandemic, until in 2023, the invitation finally became official.

Legarda also shared her own roots in media.

“Like many of you, I began my career in media as a young journalist reporting on the realities of everyday Filipinos. That pursuit of truth deepened into a commitment to action when I was elected senator at the age of 38. Today, as the longest-serving female senator in our history, I continue to dedicate myself to the noble work of uplifting Filipino lives,” she said.

As a senator, she has championed cultural preservation through key legislation, such as the National Cultural Heritage Act and the Cultural Mapping Law. On the international front, Sentro Rizal and the Philippine Studies Program are helping to share Filipino identity and scholarship around the world.

Legarda spoke of the longstanding ties between the Philippines and Germany, especially through the legacy of Rizal, who published Noli Me Tangere in Berlin in 1887.

She recounted visiting the Ullmer vicarage in Wilhelmsfeld, where Rizal completed his novel, and is now working to secure that historic site as a permanent space for Filipino-German cultural exchange.

With the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair drawing near, she expressed her hope that the stories and experiences the delegation encountered in the Philippines would carry forward into their storytelling.

“As you traveled across our islands these past days, I hope you have felt the force of imagination around you, flowing through our stories, etched in our landscapes, and alive in the spirited conversations that welcomed you,” she said.

She concluded her keynote speech by recalling her childhood home in Malabon, which a German ethnologist built.

“Every time I return, I am reminded that I come from a lineage of storytellers, thinkers, and nation-builders. And somehow, through a house built by a German and filled with Filipino voices, our histories—yours and ours—intertwine,” Legarda said. (PNA)