“I am sure his legacy, the episodes about him as a driven and steadfast journalist and editor and as a friend outside of the rather punishing laboratory of human character will live on”
JOURNALISM today lost one of its most dedicated practitioners, Ramonchito Laroya Tomeldan, 69, who has left an indelible stamp in the print newsroom.
For nearly two score, I have worked with him in at least two different newsrooms and have seen his unique character, this fellow northerner and son of Binalonan, Pangasinan (his paternal roots are from Binalonan and maternal ancestry, the Laroyas, from Agoo, La Union), his sense of humor – he would rather have his coffee “de tasa than decaf – his work ethic and passion for his craft.
As a colleague in a rather very demanding mistress of a newsroom, where he was managing editor of the Manila Standard after his field stint as business reporter of the revived Manila Times in Scout Santiago in Quezon City in the 80s, I saw his deep commitment to getting the facts right and always pushing the newshounds to have their latest stories better than their immediate last.
How he mentored the field reporters is something that has not escaped my radar screen.
When the Manila Standard marked its 30th in this thankless industry in 2017, he and publisher Rolando Estabillo, another colleague from the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines in an earlier season, asked us to write a feature on the newspaper since its birth in 1987.
We did and thought the material would include how it was going to pulsate in the next decade, with its committed staff, many of whom are unsung because they never had bylines in the product.
Despite his position in the editorial hierarchy, he was a friend to everyone, which earned for him the byname “Chairman” of the Abonado Party-list, initiated by layout supervisor Maria Victoria R. Ayeng and immediately unanimously rubber-stamped by her colleagues.
They launched the Abonado Party-list, for definitely very good reasons that spoke well of Mon’s fellowship and rapport with them as well as generous character.
His influence in calling this fellow northerner, summers older than he is, “Apong” was ubiquitous that 96 percent of those in the newsroom, and those who frequented the pantry at 6.32 pm, where we both watched the wall clock in moments of truth prior to the pandemic, also echoed his daily salutation.
Beyond the newsroom alphabet, I am sure his legacy, the episodes about him as a driven and steadfast journalist and editor and as a friend outside of the rather punishing laboratory of human character will live on.
To Lea and Leon and his surviving kin, may they have peace of mind in this very difficult time.
Kas maysa a taga amianan ken napudno a gayyem, saludoak ni Mon.
Kiddawko iti Apo a Mannakabalin nga inna tarabayen iti inna isasasaklang iti pagarianna.
