Gabino Tabunar Jr., “Gaby” to us all and one of the country’s most respected journalists, passed away at 1:59 p.m. today at the Makati Medical Center, after a bout with pneumonia. He was 94.
Gaby died peacefully in the embrace of his children after final prayers by a priest at the Makati Med, and he heard his favorite song, “Summer Wind,” by Frank Sinatra.
“Even when he was in pain, he was very kind to the people who were taking care of him. He hardly complained—whatever pain he was feeling he kept to himself,” his eldest daughter, Mao, said.
“He loved his country and he had lots of hope for this country but sometimes muttered, ‘It takes a long time for us Filipinos to know what’s good for us,’” she said.
Mao is the eldest of Gaby’s five children.
Wake will be at the Loyola Guadalupe and friends can come starting Wednesday, Feb. 5, to be with his family and celebrate Gaby’s life, friendships and advocacies.
Gaby was a true friend to many, a father and mentor to countless journalists, and most importantly, one of the founders of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines, or FOCAP, which continues to be a vanguard of press freedom to this day.
Gaby and the likes of the late journalist Teddy Benigno, a former press secretary for former President Corazon Aquino, and bureau chief of the Agence France Presse in Manila, founded the FOCAP in 1974 to fight for freedom of the press and civil liberties in the dangerous Martial Law-era under Ferdinand Marcos.
Gaby was a long-time correspondent with CBS News and was an executive of a pharmaceutical company before that.
Interment details will be announced later.