When the Book Came Home: The Philippine Launch at Ateneo

How it began

From a classroom to the Rizal Library

The path to the launch began in the classroom. The Department of Communication of Ateneo de Manila University invited me to teach Writing for Film. Its chair, Dr. Christine Cox, encouraged me to include the CIS Bamboo Framework discussed in the book as one of the lenses my students could use in writing for the screen. In January 2026, I joined Ateneo as a part-time faculty member.

I wanted to donate copies of the book to the Rizal Library, the main library of Ateneo de Manila University, so that my students could access it. The library bears the name of José Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero, who studied at the Ateneo and was himself an Atenista, as members of the Ateneo community are known. The first person I approached was Edz Santos, Graduate Librarian II. He asked a question that changed the direction of the story: Had the book already been launched in the Philippines?

“In the United States, yes,” I told him. “But not yet here.”

Edz and Mark James G. Cayabyab, RL, MTM, Head of the Reference and Information Services Section, reviewed the book and saw its value for the Rizal Library’s collection. They brought the proposal to University Librarian Joenabie E. Arevalo, RL, MLIS. After reviewing it, she approved the Rizal Library’s role as the institutional organizer and presenter of the Philippine launch, in cooperation with Areté.

Designing a different kind of launch

The library gave me room to shape the program. From the beginning, I knew this could not be only an announcement that the book was now available in the Philippines through Fully Booked and online marketplaces. The gathering also had to mark the official donation of copies to the Rizal Library.

Rather than delivering a long lecture about my own book, I invited people connected to different stages of a story’s journey. In turn, I asked them to speak from their own experience and raise the concerns, tensions, and possibilities facing Filipino storytellers today. My role would come at the end: to listen, synthesize, and explain why I wrote the book, including what it could address and what remained part of a much larger conversation.

The first library to receive the book

That ceremonial donation was not an event accessory. Instead, it marked the beginning of another journey for the book. The Rizal Library became the first library in the Philippines to receive copies through an initiative I hope to extend to other institutions. It felt right that the organization that helped bring the Philippine launch into being would also become the first library to welcome the book into its collection.

The second conversation

What kind of storyteller will you become?

The second set of speakers brought the discussion inward, toward culture, creative identity, resonance, and the human work stories are asked to do.

We do not have to translate the adobo. We have to show why the adobo matters.

The synthesis

Why I wrote the book

As I listened, I heard the different parts of the same problem. Filipino creators want their stories to travel, but the path involves more than technical skill or market access. It asks us to understand the culture within the story, the culture of the people making it, the culture of the partners who will carry it, and the culture of the audiences who will receive it.

This is why I developed the CIS Bamboo Framework. Its roots ask creators to examine cultural grounding and identity. Its craft asks how culture shapes character, conflict, emotion, and meaning. Its pulse asks how stories move through industries, platforms, and audiences. Its leaves ask what the story finally contributes when it enters the world.

The book does not promise a formula for instant global success. Instead, it offers a way to ask better questions: What are we preserving, and what are we explaining? Which assumptions are we making? What may resonate, and what might be misunderstood? Most importantly, what kind of relationship are we building between the culture from which a story comes and the people we hope will receive it?

A homecoming made personal

The people who were already part of the story

A launch may celebrate a new book, but the people in the room often carry much older stories. My sisters Rachelle, Shirley, and Marlene were there, with Niko and Robin seated behind them in the photograph. Our sibling Beng was also present, although not captured in this image. Not pictured are my brothers Alex, who lives and works in Dubai, and Mark, who lives in the southern part of Metro Manila. The book had traveled far, but this milestone became deeply personal in the presence of family.

Friendships across the years

I was also grateful to see longtime friends from UP SAMASKOM, including Batchy Batchitos, our close barkada within Batch 90.1. They knew me long before this book existed.

Meanwhile, some connections made the gathering feel wonderfully small. My best friend from elementary school, Lanie Fadriquela, came with her husband, Nestor, and their daughter, Mia, my inaanak or goddaughter. Standing with us were my colleague Dr. Leni Hernando of the Ateneo Department of Communication and her husband, who happens to be Nestor’s best friend. Small world, indeed.

I also want to thank my college friend Aileen Carreon, a public relations professional who generously helped with the event’s media outreach. Her support helped bring the book and its ideas into conversations beyond the launch venue.