REVIEW: Out of Mindanao, with love
Title: Ransomed by Love: A Happy Changemaker’s Unfinished Journey
Author: Tony La Viña
Publisher: Southern Voices Printing Press, 2024
The memoir of Tony La Viña, is not for the faint-hearted. It is for the curious, eager, and inquiring: the reader will be amply rewarded by interesting narratives and inspiring themes in “Ransomed by Love: A Happy Changemaker’s Unfinished Journey.” With his clear articulation of rich experiences, Tony’s memoire provides wholesome reading – comforting, hopeful and uplifting. (I read it straight over two days: I was struck by the narrative beauty and simplicity, brought around by a world tour, and came back to re-read many parts to refresh my thoughts.)
I first knew Tony in 2003 and got to work with him in later years. I know him better now through this book. He has plotted his path from childhood since 1959 to the present, 2024, with vignettes from his birthplace in Cagayan de Oro to other places in his homeland, and the various countries he has visited throughout the world in the course of his work and travels.
One will discover more about Tony as the pages go by, and his simple and effective writing is a joy to read from cover to end. “I am a son of Mindanao” – the starting line of the book – is short, clear and emphatic. The reader will be on an enjoyable ride with him during his journey, listening and understanding him intently, especially when he shares with us his inner thoughts.
Out of Mindanao, where he was born and raised, Tony went out to the world to love and be loved.
Various lenses and gifts in viewing Tony
Tony can be seen through various lenses over the past 65 years: (i) the curious student in philosophy and law, who with his PhD, pursued a career in climate change that defined his life’s journey; (ii) a filial son bonding with his lovely mother, who he is clearly proud of (amongst many other things, she was a trailblazer and the first woman councilor of Cagayan de Oro); (iii) his activism on climate change and environmental justice; his global citizenry; his social entrepreneurship; his mentoring of countless people; and (iv) his confronting with the demons during the pandemic – “the most challenging period of my life” (p. 183) – including his discovery in 2022 that he had prostate cancer followed by “the near-death experiences [NDEs]” (p. 241). With his packed laundry list of life’s chapters, he ends with this homily: that the NDEs “clearly were gifts from God” (p. 241). The legion of demons took over Tony but God, with his unconditional mercy, saved Tony (p. 245).
Tony’s arduous belief in God and Christianity is the spiritual golden thread running through the book. He notes at the end of the memoire that he is a “very flawed” man (p. 248). Although his life is an unfinished journey, it continues with God, and with Jesus as hope. While there are many things he does not know, he knows one thing for sure: the “teacher, activist, and changemaker is happy” (p. 258, the final page of his memoire). This fitting end marks the salutation he bestows upon us: that one can be surprised by joy even when there are reasons to be sad, and that hope can be found in community and solidarity.
He presents his gifts to us through journaling and self-realization. His journaling, sprinkled throughout his memoire, deepens his self-discovery and self-awareness. His journaling in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Philippines is a valuable record as he prioritizes fears and concerns for his family and his community. His narration of his NDEs makes him realize that he has lived “a very productive and exciting life – on the edge and no dull moment” (p. 244). With this self-realization, he wisely advises that everyone suffering from the same traits he has needs to seek help for their own wellbeing and for their loved ones. He reminds us that when we seek help, it is for not only for ourselves but for all around us, in solidarity as that is how society thrives in solidarity and in harmony.
His candor in mapping out his thoughts and conditions are riveting in delivering his gifts because they come straight from the heart with no punches pulled. He has Asperger’s syndrome, and is neurodiverse and bipolar, and admits this readily together with his prostate cancer. This gamechanger enables him to free himself from his shackles and embrace his new life with vitality in his reflective and reflexive practices.
Salient themes
The book is not all doom and gloom – far from it. Joy sparkles when we read he is “still a son of Mindanao” (p. 254, in the final chapter, my emphasis) just as he started off his memoire reminding us of his connectivity with Mindanao. The book is not simply about sickness, solitude, and solidarity but of hope and love, as a guide for future generations to build on their experiences.
We benefit from Tony’s profound reflections drawn from his life’s journey with love reigning supreme. I can understand why Tony is ransomed by love. In 1 Corinthians 13:13, St. Paul says “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.” Love surpasses faith and hope. To be ransomed by love is the best way of release from captivity or imprisonment, and unleashing oneself to the fore.
There are several salient themes in the memoire, and I select and explain four which are inter-related.
The first central theme is there is no peace without justice. Tony says “there can be no peace without justice, there can be no peace if we do not address the inequities in the present and resolve historical injustice” at p. 20 (emphasis mine). He reminds us that 50 years on, this refrain is still his mantra! This early revelation in his childhood resonates throughout the book. We are peppered with his recollections of remembrances which feed us with curiosity. From his Italy visit in 1981, when he was 22 years old, he asked himself in Assisi soul-searching questions such as whether he should return to the Philippines or should he become a priest, and he heard Jesus on the Cross telling him to pray Francis’ Canticle of Creatures and Prayer to become an instrument of peace (my emphasis). When he returned from Italy to the Philippines he was at peace and brought home souvenirs: an immense capacity to love, and solitude to quiet his heart and to listen to God’s song. He learned that solidarity with others was not possible if he did not pray and if he did not embrace solitude. He studied philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University which enhanced his philosophical and religious thinking.
The second theme is an expansion of the first theme (peace and justice) by covering human rights.
He tells us unashamedly that for the “next forty plus years, up to today, I still pray, in fact sing these Franciscan prayers” made in the 1980s (p. 34). In the early 2000s, he realized why he is today an environmental lawyer and a worker for peace. His calling is to be a defender of people and the planet – a worker for environmental justice, human rights, and peace (my emphasis). This revelation, half a century on, provides us insights into the author’s passion for justice and peace with a focus on the environment (given the climate change context he arduously worked on from the 1990s, as a student, teacher, government civil servant, and researcher).
He tells us he teaches students to become great lawyers and if they want to become great lawyers they must make world better by being gentler and kinder, and more just (emphasis added). In 2005, he continues to echo his mission with his new-found fight to overcome poverty and address ecological degradation, and in his “tireless striving for a peaceful and just world that absolutely respects human rights” (p. 138, my emphasis). He has now added a layer of human rights in pursuit of his new-found passion in his mantra.
The theme of changemaker surfaces later in 2006 when he established Ashoka Philippines, a global foundation and network of social entrepreneurs to bring about change across sectors, so that everyone can be a changemaker, including himself. He ascribes to himself this epithet: “to change [himself], to change others through teaching and mentoring, and to change the Philippines and the world through social innovation” (p. 152). He reminds us that whatever the attributes given to him, he wishes to be best remembered as “teacher” instead of “thinker, lawyer, social entrepreneur, and good governance, human rights and environmental advocate” (p. 162-3).
In his teaching, he fosters a generation of students, a new community of changemakers. As a teacher, nothing is more satisfying than knowing that students he taught, trained, coached and mentored are better than him. His humility is illuminating and resonates across his other work in addressing various climate change issues such as the Loss and Damage provisions in his present work at the Manila Observatory.
Finally, faith, hope and love is a theme which surfaces when the author undergoes treatment in 2022 for his prostate cancer. He is in despair during the treatment procedures and goes through self-realization that despair is when the individual does not align themselves with God’s plan. His study of philosophy propels him to understand the logic that the opposite of despair is faith. He says, convincingly, that faith leads to hope which gives us the courage to love (my emphasis). In this trial, he meditates and prays and develops the spirituality of the following four gestures at pp. 239-240: (i) protest or struggle and let go, including his Mindanao dream project, and extending the protest to the disregard for nature and the impoverished; (ii) pray and ask for mercy for all his sins; (iii) promise to give more of himself to others and pray in the Neocatechumenal Way (a Catholic program that provides instruction in the faith and Christian initiation); and (iv) praise the Lord for the planet and life, and even thank the Lord for the suffering.
Key takeaway
The key takeaway of the memoir is understanding the author’s quest for solidarity in our lives and world by addressing problems to improve future generations and save the planet. The book also provides immense value to budding students who will be future global citizens. The book’s themes on life-learning and encompassing the global citizenry in us help prepare ourselves better in the present BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible) world.
The theme of faith, hope and love resonates best with me as it is spiritual and brings out the best in the individual. When we practice the four gestures, we can better address the struggles of today in addressing a turbulent world of increasing poverty attendant with climate change protection and geopolitical tensions. The reader may form their own opinions on which theme(s) they can best relate with and in what ways they can prepare themselves to make the Philippines a better country to ensure good governance and economic development for the wellbeing of its people.
The memoire’s greatest strength is the author’s compelling flow of thoughts. He acknowledges the multiple “villages” of his unfinished life at the end of his memoire who have enabled and supported him as activist, changemaker, and teacher. These villages include his immediate family; his other families; his friends in his early years in CDO, Manila, and Udine; Jesuit volunteers; Ateneo de Manila University; University of the Philippines, College of Law; communities of practice in human rights, and environmental and climate justice; Department of Environment and Natural Resources; and the universe of people he mentored (p. 279).
It is a legacy for the Philippines to celebrate how a son of Mindanao grew up in the country and embraced his education to cover philosophy and law, and gifted the nation with his work in the government and in his advocacy and teaching. He went abroad to work and could have easily worked overseas with his extensive qualifications but “his mind and heart were on the Philippines” (p. 134).
Tony’s memoir is a living testimony of a son of Mindanao whose heart is set in the country he loves. Indeed, he is also a son that the Philippines can be very proud of: his tireless work in his “unfinished journey” for the country (including being a climate and peace negotiator for the nation); and for helping and mentoring people, especially students, he meets in his path.
(Suresh Nanwani is a Professor in Practice at Durham University, United Kingdom and Emeritus Professor, Shoolini University in India)
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