JULIE, OUR our children and I express our sincere condolences to
the family of Prof. Armando Malay. We share the grief of his relatives,
friends, former students and colleagues in the fields of education,
journalism and human rights advocacy as well as in the mass movement
for true national independence and democracy.
We feel a deep sense of loss as we pay tribute to Dean Malay for
his outstanding achievements in his profession and militant service
to the Filipino people. At the same time, we find comfort in the thought
that the good dean has taken a well-deserved rest after a long meaningful
and fruitful life.
I cherish the semesters that I attended his journalism and Rizal
courses in the years 1957 to 1959. He was a very engaging teacher.
He expressed his ideas seriously and enlivened the lessons with funny
anecdotes. He was among the professors who contributed much to my
maturation as a patriotic and progressive liberal, on the way to making
a leap of conviction from the old to the new democratic revolution.
We became closer when I was elected the president of the UP Journalism
Club of which he was the adviser. He encouraged the club and me in
particular to invite Fr. Hilario Lim to speak on the Filipinization
of the Catholic Church, especially the religious orders which were
still foreign-dominated, and to fight for his right to speak in a
forum at the university and for the right of the students to hear
him.
Julie also attended the Rizal course of Prof. Malay and he appointed
her as one of the monitors of his huge class at the college auditorium.
As monitor, she checked the attendance and distributed and collected
the exam papers. Thus, the two of us were always at ease whenever
we visited one of his children at his Heroes’ Hill residence.
I observed Prof. Malay as a very hard working family man. When as
his student I first met him, I came to know that he was holding three
jobs: as a lecturer in the university, as an editor in the Manila
Times and as a writer in an advertising company. Eventually, he increased
his teaching hours at the university and became the dean of student
affairs in the 1960s.
As dean of student affairs, he was highly respected and well loved
by the students. I was in a position to know that he was supportive
of the student organizations committed to the national democratic
movement. He encouraged and joined the mass actions that upheld the
rights and interests of the students and the people.
I always admired Prof. Malay for being supportive of Paula (Ayi)
and their children when they became active in the national democratic
movement. And my admiration for him rose immeasurably when I was in
prison and I learned that he was active in the struggle against the
US-sponsored Marcos fascist dictatorship and was in so many ways fighting
for press freedom, the whole range of human rights and true national
independence and democracy for the Filipino people.
He was imprisoned when Marcos cracked down on We Forum in the early
eighties. But instead of being cowed, he fought back even harder against
the dictatorship, writing steadfastly and marching at the forefront
of mass protest actions. After his detention, he became more involved
in looking after the rights and welfare of political prisoners. I
benefited from his concern and attention.
Soon after my release from military detention in 1986, I had an exceedingly
happy reunion with Dean Malay together with so many former political
detainees and human rights activists. Subsequently, I visited him
and Ayi a number of times before Julie and I left for abroad.
The spirit of Prof. Malay has always been with us. His patriotism
and progressive commitment will continue to inspire us. He continues
to live in our hearts and minds and in the annals of the national
democratic movement.
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From http://www.inps-sison.freewebspace.com/TributetoMalay.htm
