NICK JOAQUIN was, no doubt, a brilliant literary mind. His splendid,
one-of-a-kind work, which often drives us to reexamine fundamental
moral and psychological questions, will forever be etched in the annals
of Philippine letters.
But aside from that he was also someone who, unknown to many, knew
something about fighting for what is right.
In the 1960s, as elected union president at the Philippines Free
Press, he thought nothing of earning the ire of management as he courageously
pushed for his co-workers' rights, and preferred leaving his job and
treading on the uncertain ground of co-establishing a new publication
(Asia-Philippines Leader) to making compromises.
A number of Nick Joaquin's fellow writers at Asia-Philippines Leader
were incarcerated during martial law, among them Pete Lacaba who is
publicly known to have been heavily tortured by the late Col. Rodolfo
Aguinaldo and his henchmen.
It must be noted here that Joaquin, who was named National Artist
for Literature in 1976, accepted the award on the condition that his
detained fellow writers at Asia-Philippines Leader would be released.
He got his demand, and personally delivered the release papers of
each of his incarcerated co-writers.
Joaquin would later be seen often at human rights rallies against
the Marcos dictatorship.
Although he is not known to have joined any cause-oriented organization
and was not as much of an iconoclast as his fellow National Artist
Amado V. Hernandez or his contemporary Renato Constantino, he ought
to be admired and remembered for taking a stand at times when one
most had to. He was an advocate in his own right, he was not sleeping
in the darkness of the night.
That is, of course, aside from the admiration and remembrance he
deserves for his very evident greatness as a man of letters.
