The initial design was more visually-driven, beautifully laid-out, but a bit harder to read. The next job, adds David, is coming up with the book design. We did some research at the National Library.” Once we did that, which took about a year, we started matching the available pictures and got more pictures from other collections. We presented the published pieces about him in chronological order. “My dad was very meticulous about keeping records he had scrapbooks for the photos, and we compiled the articles from available files.

How did David manage to have everything compiled in a 450-plus-page book with photos, illustrations, newspaper and magazine clippings (by the likes of Nick Joaquin, Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, Teodor Locsin, et al) and assorted etceteras a yeoman’s job most definitely. In his father’s era there was very strong thinking and good writing, says David.

Since the image of the man puffing on a cigarette would not sit too well with the conservatives, David made sure donations would be made to the Philippine Cancer Society, because the man died of lung cancer (June 24, 1982), and they didn’t want to glorify his image as a cigarette-smoker. “The cover image seems to sum up the era a bit sort of a diplomatic Mad Men,” says David with a laugh. Guerrero (1915-1982) on the cover of LMG: The Leon Ma Guerrero Anthology, a compendium of the works by and about the lawyer, diplomat, journalist, the author of The First Filipino (the acclaimed Jose Rizal biography), a translator of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo (with original book design by artist David Medalla), a recipient of the Mabini Award (the country’s highest honor for foreign service), among many other things. The book has been compiled by the ambassador’s only son, David Guerrero, and it features never-before-seen pictures culled from the family archives, as well as hundreds of articles, stories and speeches from the subject himself and his contemporaries. He looks more like a Beat poet in a suit, with a cigarette in hand and slanting shadow, framed by a monochrome world, the republic in his head and heart.

The first filipino leon maria guerrero