A teary-eyed Sen. Loren Legarda announced that she’s buying a house in Germany, when she was the keynote speaker at a luncheon held in honor of German media delegates at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Manila. Which house in particular? No less than the one Dr. Jose Rizal stayed in almost 130 years ago, as he penned the final chapters of Noli Me Tangere.
BY JOSE PAOLO S. DELA CRUZ
Legarda, who has consistently championed historical, cultural and environmental causes, describes the house as a “beautiful brick house overlooking the meadows. Rizal dreamed and wrote there.” The longest-serving senator in the Philippines also revealed that she intends to open the house to the public as Sentro Rizal, which Legarda envisions as a permanent fixture for cultural learning and exchange between the Philippines and Germany.
Located at Wilhemsfeld, the house was a former Protestant vicarage where the late Pastor Karl Ullmer hosted Rizal in 1886. Legarda added that at the time, he was also studying Ophthalmology in nearby Heidelberg.
When Legarda heard that the house was put on the market a few years back, she wasted no time in securing it for the Philippines. “I am working tirelessly to secure it for the Filipino people,” she said. “As I speak, we are also communicating with our German lawyer and should be able to process the sale within the month, before Dr. Jose Rizal’s birthday [in June 19].”
Legarda, who seemed both proud and sentimental over this acquisition, also revealed that in a grand twist of fate, she, too, grew up in a house built by a German ethnologist — Otto Johns Scheerer —who became the first governor of Batanes.
“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,” said Legarda.
“Guest of Honour” at the Frankfurt Book Fair
Rizal and the purchase of historic real estate aside, the luncheon was held to celebrate an exciting new chapter for cultural exchange between the Philippines and Germany. The Philippines, after all, will take center stage at the world’s largest and most influential book fair as “Guest of Honour.”
“When the Philippines made its modest return to the Frankfurter Buchmesse [the Frankfurt Book Fair] in 2015 after a 15-year absence, I dared to ask, ‘Why not the Philippines as guest of honor?’ I took this as a personal mission,” said Legarda, the visionary behind the Philippines’ Guest of Honour (GOH) role at the 2025 Frankfurter Buchmesse.
She 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.
In line with this, the senator invited members of the German press to the Philippines to explore our equally historic and beautiful islands. “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.
And it’s safe to say that the delegates were obviously charmed, not just by the good senator, but by the country itself. “As we learned, Philippine writing, art and performance are crucial in ascertaining Philippine Identity. All of us were fortunate to experience parts of the Philippines’ culture and regional diversity, from Baguio to Boracay, thanks to the great program of the Philippine guest of honor team,” said Simone Bühler, head of the Frankfurt Book Fair GOH program.
With the 2025 Frankfurt Book Fair drawing near, Legarda expressed her hope that the stories and experiences the media delegation encountered in the Philippines would hopefully weave their way into their storytelling. “That is what literature does. It collapses distance. It makes neighbors of strangers. It lets the past speak to the present, and the present dare to imagine a better future,” she added.
Well, Rizal may have finished his book, but Legarda is still tirelessly working to ensure that for the Philippines and Germany, the best chapters are still being written — one meaningful cultural exchange at a time.
