Firstly, thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my statement, reply, and voice your support. I didn’t know how it would be received when I released it, and I am encouraged and buoyed by your comments and conversations.
A lot has happened over the past week, and to continue with the transparency I began a week ago with my original statement, I will share an update with you here.
After correspondence from Patria Rivera, I have discovered that she was not my final editor, but in fact, Ted Alcuitas.
Ted Alcuitas has apologized profusely in private, as has Patria. Chris Gatchalian has apologized publicly, at the Vancouver book launch. Their apologies are heartfelt. Cormorant has also apologized over email.
But what I have also learned this week is that I am not the only one who was affected by editing errors in Magdaragat. Others have come forward, sharing their own personal accounts – I thank them for trusting me with their experiences, and am increasingly angered and disappointed by the errors that have come to light. I understand that mistakes are sometimes made. Yet for a work of this magnitude, this is unacceptable.
Cormorant has sent out individual emails to each contributor with a final proof of their work attached, asking that each author look over their piece. This was the crucial step that was missed originally, that would have enabled the publisher to print the full manuscript as each author intended their work.
The Toronto book launch has been cancelled until further notice.
These are all steps in the right direction. But it’s not enough.
The actual books are still in circulation. The books that still have all the errors. These books need to be recalled and destroyed, with new ones printed containing all the revisions. Cormorant, you have the opportunity to do the right thing by reprinting this book. By doing so, you become a positive part of this story and part of the solution. This is a way for you to be part of change, by giving proper voice to voices that are already underrepresented, and to do better and be better.
There has also not been a public written statement from the editors and publisher acknowledging the careless way in which our collective work was treated. Let me reiterate – I am not the only one whose work was printed with errors. The other authors affected also deserve a public apology and rectification. For the other authors included, their work is now overshadowed by this situation. This needs to be acknowledged.
As kapwa, a wrong to one of us is a wrong to all. Continuing with sales of the book as is “betrays the spirit of kapwa,” as Marc Perez, another Magdaragat contributor affected by a gross series of errors, put it. How can Magdaragat be taught or shared in the years to come, with this shame hanging over it? How can anyone be proud of this book, knowing it has aggrieved a number of the authors within its pages?
Make this right.