One by one, they go, crossing the Great Beyond. What reminds us are the good things they did for others. That is the most important. Through their deeds, they keep themselves in our thoughts.
This seems like a eulogy or an epitaph on the headstone of a departed friend. Everybody wants to be remembered long after he is gone.
Shall we call this, a man’s longing for immortality?
The latest to go is Vir Arcos, a good friend from my active days in the media. When Vir was DWGW station manager and KBP chairman, Albay chapter, I was managing editor of Tony Gonazales’ Bicol Chronicle. Almost daily, we met in press conferences and other big events in Legaspi City.
In Vir’s circle were Art Osia, DZGB station manager now tourism consultant in the Office of Legaspi Mayor Noel Rosal, Larry Brocales, DZRC station manager, lawyer Del Salvosa and Energy Undersecretary Ben Salcedo, both deceased, the last two were with City Hall under Mayor Goyito Imperial.
Del and Ben were former editors of Bicol Chronicle. When I was president of Bicol Reporters Association for Development (BRAD), Vir, Del and Ben and the other station managers were the advisers. Also advisers were Tony Gonzales and Leo Balsarza, Mayon Times publisher.
There was only one press club, the BRAD. No rival group existed.
Production mangers of radio stations, their reporters, newspaper editors and their reporters were members of the BRAD all immensely proud of the badge. Because of the cohesiveness, government officials respected the organization. The BRAD moved as one voice, as one fighting force.
It was at this time when Mel Rima of DWGW, Ariel Ayque of DZRC and Elmer Bandol of DWZR started to shine. They had talents, they had guts. They were fearless.
It was also at this time that the Daraga Herald published by then Daraga Mayor Pete Marcellana, Jr. got international exposure as the most fearless. The Asian Wall Street Journal and the New York Wall Street Journal featured the Herald for reporting without fear the tumult occurring in the region during martial law.
No other small-town weekly in the country had gotten the attention of the American newspapers.
But very few stay in the limelight for good. If you are at the top, you will go down, the law of nature. But like old soldiers, journalists do not die. They just fade away, some say. It is not, however, an accurate description.
They fade and they die.
The Daraga Herald is no longer around, a victim of thinning finances. Even now, it is very hard to maintain a community newspaper.
Most of the mediamen at the height of their career in Legaspi City when I arrived in the 80s are not around anymore - Jack Cabigao of Bikol Guardian, Leo Balsarza of Mayon Times, Tony Gonzales of Bicol Chronicle, Jules Leopando of DTI, Fem Mediavillo of PNA, Ampy Bergado of DZGB, to mention a few.
Del died a year age, Ben and John Villanueva about five years earlier. The list appears like the Who’s Who in the local media. There is a Bicol term for them: Oragon, the best among the best.
One surviving journalist, Bicol Chronicle first editor and former top man in Francisco Tatad’s Dept. of Public Information (DTI), is Nards Aquende, now US-based. The last time he visited was years ago, dropping by the Commission on Human Rights when he learned I was about to be appointed to a middle level government post.
He was passing by the Philippines on his way to Vietnam to do an article on the country’s reconstruction efforts. The Vietnam War had left it prostrate but was moving forward.
Still very much around are lawyer Danny Azaña, former Albay vice governor and host of a popular radio program over DZGB. The program was originally hosted by now retired RTC Judge Tony Alfane who briefly served as Bicol Chronicle editor years ago.
They are described by fans as the old warriors. They were at the scene at the time I was earning a name. Also very much around is Nelson Arao, former manager of Campus Radio.
My other colleagues are Manny Ugalde of Manila Times, the late Dr. Carlos Gegantoca of Bicol University. Carling was a columnist in the Bicol Chronicle which I edited and also Raffy Banzuela, former DZRC manager and now Aquinas University secretary-general. Flor Narito is another, still active at 75. And Edwin Bandol, once Legaspi’s top broadcaster.
You have all the top mediamen in Legspi City, the deceased and those still with us.
I almost forgot Dick Muzni, former Bicol Chronicle editor. Low-keyed, Dick is happy looking at the unfurling events from the sideline. He is presently editing Mayon Times and Bicol Digest.
Whether, they will be around for years more, nobody can answer the question. It depends on how they live life. Those who worry too much may die early. Those who look at life with zest may live to a hundred years.
There is an advice from Camarines Sur Congressman Luis Villafuerte: Don’t worry, don’t hurry and smell all the flowers along the way. The solon is said to have slowed down aging.
Like old war veterans, the ranks of Albay mediamen are thinning. Sooner or later, they will ride into the sunset. In some American movies, the final scene shows the hero riding into the sunset, leaving a sobbing lovely damsel behind.
In stage play, that comes when the curtains fall.
