DEAN MALAY'S patriotism and activism live on in the national democratic
struggle that continues to be waged. As former UP College of Mass
Communication Dean Luis Teodoro in his newspaper column said, Dean
Malay “was more than a human rights and anti-dictatorship activist.
He was also committed to a radical vision of a better society and
nation.”
His bushy eyebrows and large polo shirt that hanged loosely made
me stare at him the first time I saw him. Aside of course from the
fact that he was one of the two quiet adults in a crowd of almost
200 constantly chattering campus writers. But when Dean Armando Malay
gave his speech, I stared again, no longer at the eyebrows and colorful
shirt, but at the ideals that he passionately intoned.
Dean, as everybody called him, was a favorite speaker in writers’
forums, workshops and conventions. He consistently hammered to us
the need for vigilance in defending press freedom and to never compromise
and keep our journalistic ethics high.
Thus, although I entered the University of the Philippines long after
Dean retired from teaching, our batch of campus journalists had the
good fortune of being closely guided by him and his colleague, Ernesto
Rodriguez. The two of them attended all major activities of the College
Editors’ Guild of the Philippines (CEGP) at the time, even sleeping
in the same sardine-packed dormitories we slept in and taking long,
hot trips with us to Cebu, Dagupan and other places. He continued
to be a teacher to us, not just of journalism but also of politics
and life.
Tribute
Dean Malay passed away at the age of 89 shortly before midnight on
May 15 after suffering a stroke. Within minutes, e-mail, and text
messages circulated the sad news.
His relatives, friends, colleagues, former students now editors and
senior reporters, and even young activists who did not get to know
him, paid tribute to Dean Malay on the last night of the three-day
wake.
The first part was initiated by the UP Journalism Department and
supported by media practitioners and former CEGP officers and members.
Department chair Marichu Lambino hosted the tribute, with Pinoy Times
publisher Vic Tirol and former CMC Dean Luis Teodoro, both former
students of Dean Malay, sharing their experiences. Former Malaya publisher
Joe Burgos also sent a message which was read by his son, while Inday
Espina Varona, current vice-chair of the National Union of Journalists
in the Philippines, talked about the threats to journalists today
and Dean Malay’s legacy of fighting for freedom of expression.
Lambino and other members of the department also presented a resolution
to name the Journalism room in CMC Dean Armando J. Malay Room. A three-minute
video that flashed footages and photos of Dean Malay in various activities
was also shown.
The second part, hosted by former newsman now corporate executive
Mon Isberto, featured speeches by whose lives at one time or another
were touched by Dean Malay. They included Today editor Lourdes Molina
Fernandez, Bayan Vice Chair Dr. Carol Araullo, artist Boni Ilagan,
journalist Malou Mangahas, human rights leader Benjie Oliveros and
Magsaysay awardee Bienvenido Lumbera. Present were Sen. Joker Arroyo,
former Agriculture Secretary Roberto Pagdanganan, Behn Cervantes,
Ricky Lee, Randy and Karina David, Ronalyn Olea and other protest
and media figures.
Statements honoring Dean Malay were released by the Congress of Teachers
and Educators for Nationalism and Democracy (CONTEND) and CEGP.
A Journalist’s Journalist
Dean Malay was born in Gagalangin, Tondo in 1914 to writer Gonzalo
Malay and Carmen de Jesus. He was already into journalism when he
was in high school, writing a column in the Torres High School campus
paper, The Torch.
He entered UP in 1931, taking up AB Philosophy. Not surprisingly,
he became editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian in 1934. After
graduation, he wrote for The Tribune where he would spend his first
10 years as a professional journalist.
Dean was also a UNESCO fellow at the Centre d’Enseignement Superieur
du Journalisme in Strasbourg, France, and an AID fellow at the California
Polytechnic and Ohio University in Ohio.
He was with the The Tribune when the country came under Japanese
rule. After the war, he and his colleagues put up the Manila Chronicle
which the Lopezes later on acquired.
Dean Malay’s column in Manila Chronicle and, later, We Forum
was called “With a Grain of Salt.” Cum Grano Salis in Latin,
it means to look at things with caution, to be critical. Dean wrote
pieces critical of the powers-that-be, but with a sense of humor that
made his column enjoyable reading. For example, he poked fun at former
President Elpidio Quirino’s rumored golden orinola (spitoon)
and his brand new bed worth P5,000, a princely sum in the ‘50s.
Dean was proud of the initially adversarial role of the newspaper.
He wrote, “The realization that one can write everything and
anything under the sun, without running the risk of being fired for
it or his attention called by the management, spurs a newspaperman
to giving his best.
“…We in the Chronicle realize that where the issue is one
of right and wrong, there can be no choice. Righteousness of a cause,
or its lack, is the only consideration taken into account when we
sit down to write editorials and columns.”
But when Fernando Lopez decided to run in the 1949 elections with
Elpidio Quirino, whose corruption Malay despised and lambasted in
his column, the paper started to pressure Dean Malay into toning down
his attacks against the president and businessmen who were campaign
contributors. A month before the elections, Dean resigned.
He became editor of the post-war Daily Mail and his columns appeared
in the Star Reporter, Evening Chronicle, Malaya, Philippine Review,
Manila Times and other papers.
Twice he published dramatic columns that had only titles and with
the rest of column blank. The first was for the Chronicle, with the
title “The Achievements of Quirino.” The second was for
Malaya’s martial law anniversary edition. The title was “The
Good Things Martial Law Gave Us.”
In 1982, Dean Malay, together with journalists Joe Burgos and Soc
Rodrigo, was detained after We Forum earned the ire of Marcos for
its exposé about the dictator’s fake medals.
The Dean
A journalist for more than six decades, Dean Malay not only practiced
journalism but also taught others how to be a good journalist.
Dean Malay started teaching in UP in 1954. Even before the Institute
of Mass Communication, now a full-blown college (CMC), was established,
he was already teaching newswriting, feature writing as well as Rizal
courses.
According to a former student, columnist and former CMC Dean Luis
Teodoro, Dean Malay came to class in a bow tie of which he seemed
to have dozens and gave 20-minute quizzes every day.
He was relentless in demanding accuracy and excellence from his students,
rebuking those who fail to meet his standards. His irrepressible humor
and many stories and anecdotes, mostly from his own experiences as
newspaper reporter, columnist and editor, however gave substance and
life to classroom discussion.
Even Communist Party of the Philippine (CPP) founding chairman Jose
Ma. Sison, who attended journalism and Rizal classes under Dean Malay,
wrote in a tribute sent to the family that he was a very engaging
teacher who expressed his ideas seriously and enlivened the class
with funny anecdotes. Sison said Dean Malay was among the professors
who contributed to his maturation as a patriotic and progressive liberal.
He soon became dean of student affairs, holding it from 1970 to 1978
- turbulent but historic years for the student movement, particularly
at the premier state university. Despite his position in the school
administration, the good dean earned the respect of student activists,
whom he supported in their activism. He defended the students who
put up barricades in the campus in 1971 to protest oil price and transport
fare hikes, an incident which later became known as the Diliman Commune.
The Activist
Dean Malay, wearing his Mao cap, was a common sight in rallies from
the martial law to Aquino years. He did not only lead the fight for
press freedom but was actively involved in the broad anti-dictatorship
movement.
He headed Selda, the organization of former political detainees,
and Kapatid, an organization of relatives of political detainees,
for several years. He was a member of the Council of Leaders of the
National Alliance for Justice and Democracy, an alliance of anti-dictatorship
organizations. He was also the founding chairman of Karapatan or the
Alliance for the Advancement of Human Rights.
In an article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Chelo Banal Formoso
was undoubtedly correct when she wrote that Dean Malay need not be
remembered with a monument or hall or street named after him. His
influence lives on in the work of his former students who are now
leading media practitioners.
But in addition to this, Dean Malay’s patriotism and activism
live on in the national democratic struggle that continues to be waged.
As Teodoro in his column said, Dean Malay “was more than a human
rights and anti-dictatorship activist. He was also committed to a
radical vision of a better society and nation.” (Bulatlat.com)
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(Sources: Chua, Yvonne and Sison, Maritess, Armando J. Malay: A Guardian
of Memory, Anvil Publishing, 2002; Banal-Formoso, Chelo, “Students’
work is Malay’s Monument,” Philippine Daily Inquirer, May
17, 2003; Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, i magazine
“A Journalist Worth His Salt,” April-June 2002)
