In January of 2009, months before my 10th birthday, I came home and saw Tatay lying on a mattress on the floor. He was watching the news as Nanay and I entered our apartment. When I took his left hand for the mano po blessing, its weight sank on my palm. I drew closer to him,...
Category: In Memoriam
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Stardom, solitude, and Jaclyn Jose
By this time the ashes of actress Jaclyn Jose, who died at 60 early this month, would have been laid to rest at the Garden of the Divine Word Columbarium in Quezon City. Her older sister, the semi-retired actress Veronica Jones, believes that she is a pure soul. Indeed, she was a kind person, a...
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Jaclyn Jose could drink till daybreak and still arrive on set ready with her lines
In a huddle after the meeting called last January by the office of Sen. Robinhood Padilla to discuss the Eddie Garcia Bill, the award-winning actress Jaclyn Jose told me that we should all pull together to push the enactment of the important piece of legislation. “Hoy, pagtulung-tulungan natin na maipasa ito. Pero sana naman huwag...
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Newsroom’s silent warrior, Romy Mariñas; 74
In the serene solitude of his residence, surrounded by artifacts of life deeply experienced and ardently lived, Romulo “Mang Romy” P. Mariñas passed away at 74, leaving behind a legacy that speaks volumes of an existential journey marked by resilience, intelligence, and unwavering spirit. Despite his later years being shadowed by illness, his demeanor remained...
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Samboy Lim, ‘Skywalker,’ 61
Philippine basketball has lost the great Avelino “Samboy” Lim Jr. A legend at the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), Lim died on Dec. 23 at 61, surrounded by loved ones. On Nov. 28, 2014, he fell into a coma following a cardiac arrest during an exhibition game with friends and former PBA colleagues at Ynares Sports...
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Remember Ninoy Aquino
On Aug. 21 it will be 40 years to the day when the former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. landed at the airport that now bears his name and was shot dead as he disembarked from the plane. Ninoy Aquino had flown to Manila from exile in the United States with the intention of uniting...
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The esteemed ‘Sir Doro’ made me laugh and kept me on my toes
I joined the Philippine Daily Inquirer in 1995, as a proofreader, a year after Amando Doronila—“Doro,” accent on the second syllable, to his colleagues and friends—became the paper’s editorial consultant and Opinion columnist. I had always admired journalists like Sir Doro, but when I needed to talk to him for the first time to clarify...
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Jaime Tadeo: the lessons of ‘Kampo ng Bayan’
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jaime “Ka Jimmy” Tadeo, farmer organizer and delegate to the 1986 constitutional convention, died on March 26, 2023. He was 84. (Second of two parts) It was decided that the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luzon (AMGL, Alliance of Farmers in Central Luzon) would spearhead a march from Meycauayan, Bulacan, just outside Metro...
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Jaime Tadeo: the rebirth of the Philippine peasant movement
Editor’s note: Jaime “Ka Jimmy” Tadeo, farmer organizer and delegate to the 1986 constitutional convention, died on March 26, 2023. He was 84. The collapse of the peasant-led Huk rebellion in the early 1950s also led to the demise of militant peasant movements such as the National Union of Peasants of the Philippines, the League...
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Hail and farewell: Luis V. Teodoro
The public intellectual Luis V. Teodoro was not known to be ailing, which was why his many friends and admirers could not immediately come to grips with word that he had passed, felled by a heart attack. How could that bodily treachery occur in someone who watched his health as carefully as he watched the...