Two deaths devastated me in December 2015.
The long-time editor of The Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, died on Christmas Eve, December 24, at 7:30 p.m., following a bout with lung cancer that hardly anyone knew she had all along.
On New Year’s Eve, December 31, at 1:22 p.m., Washington DC time, my best friend in college, Rodel Ilagan, died, after a brief bout with a devastating pancreatic cancer which was discovered in only November 2015. He was 67.
Letty and Rod were both reformists and pursued activism in the best way they knew.
Rod’s cancer, incurable and inoperable, spread like a massive monster to his liver and lungs, debilitating him as his weight went down in a month from 170 to 120 lbs. His doctors thought that with aggressive chemotherapy that began Dec. 8, he could still live for six months to a year. They were wrong.
I met Rod in my freshman year at the University of Santo Tomas in our philosophy class. Philosophy to him was a passion, while journalism to me was a career course. UST ousted him in his senior year for student activism and was not allowed to graduate. UST declared me an undesirable student but thankfully allowed me to graduate with honors.
Rod finished his LiA-Com degree from a college in Santa Mesa, Manila. He dabbled in appliance dealership for nearly 10 years in Manila before I gave him a journalist’s credentials as a correspondent in the United States in 1980, with his family. He settled at balmy Stonecreek Road, in Annapolis, Maryland. A CPA, he finished MBA from Loyola College, Baltimore.
Rod put up businesses that were too far ahead of his time in the 1980s, like organic foods and vegetables, converting x-ray films into silver, and a fast food restaurant. In his later years, he settled down and became the CFO of non-profits, Capital Area Food Bank, and from December 2013, LEDC in Washington DC.
Rod was proud of his professional achievements, growing the operations of the nonprofits. He focused on pro-bono work with the immigrant community, helping his neighbors integrate and achieve goals of homeownership and financial independence. Rod found much fulfillment in mentoring individuals, helping them discover their potential and encouraging them to be successful in school, work, and community life.
Rod’s social justice activism began at UST. Imbued with revolutionary fervor by the Jesuit Jose Blanco, and together with other activists, he sought the overthrow of the Spanish administration at UST. Outside the university, his group sought the overthrow of the sitting government. UP and the non-sectarian schools had their Maoists who derided the Catholic activists as cleric-fascists. The student rebellion of 1969 to 1970s failed. Marcos declared martial law and ruled as a dictator for 14 more years.
Rod’s strong Catholic faith guided his life, combining prayer with action and service to others. Rod and his family were parishioners of St. Mary’s Church, attending services at St. John Neumann.
My friend is survived by his wife, Mercedes Magpantay, a magna cum laude foreign service graduate of UST, their only child, Veda; his sister-in-law Mila, grandchildren Kevin, Anthony, and Leslie; his mother Minerva, and five siblings.
Letty Magsanoc was also an activist. She was a good friend from a distance. With she from Mr. & Ms. and later Inquirer and me at Asiaweek, we covered the tumultuous last three years of the 20-year reign of Ferdinand E. Marcos.
When the strongman was ousted by People Power on February 25, 1986 and Corazon Cojuangco Aquino assumed power without the benefit of an election the same day, the Inquirer embraced Cory like a Joan of Arc who saved democracy for the Philippines. The former treasurer of the largest hacienda north of Manila was also treated as a Mother Teresa. She could do no wrong.
The same hero worship was extended to her only son, Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, when he sought the presidency in 2010 despite his obvious lack of preparation and riding only on the crest of sympathy from Cory’s death, by cancer, in August 2009. Until now, despite his failings, his incompetence, his vengeful streak, and the corruption of people surrounding him, Noynoy Aquino is considered by the Inquirer as someone who also could do no wrong.
Early on, The Inquirer nitpicked its bête noires, the likes of the Marcoses, Juan Ponce Enrile, Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco Jr., Joseph Estrada, Vice President Jejomar Binay, to name some, and grew devil’s horns in them.
Marcos and JPE allegedly abused human rights and piled up ill-gotten wealth, although more journalists died during the presidencies of Cory and BS Aquino than during FM’s.
Estrada was ousted by People Power II. The Inquirer suspected him ordering an ad boycott after the president tried to review the sweetheart deal of the Prietos on valuable state-owned Makati property during Cory’s time called the Mile Long.
On the other hand, Cojuangco allegedly used coco levy money to enrich himself. The opposite is true. ECJ gave money to the coco industry and invested on its behalf enormously in growth industries. The Supreme Court thought the gains from the investments came from coco levy because Danding made the mistake of borrowing P9.6 billion from Cocobank, where SMC money from sales of beer and other products, was deposited daily. With the high court’s diktat, Danding converted the investments into preferred shares of the government in San Miguel and in three years redeemed them and handed over the proceeds, P84 billion and rising, to the Aquino administration for the development of the coconut industry. No other crony has done as well. If that is stealing, I don’t know what is not. Today, nobody knows where the P84-billion-plus is. And nobody is moving to develop the moribund coconut industry.
My colleague, Bobi Tiglao reckons that the Inquirer did 44 headline stories on Binay last year to demonize him for alleged corruption. The VP’s ratings tanked by mid-2015. Thankfully, by end 2015, Binay had recovered somehow to again lead the presidential race leading into May 2016.
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