Tinig ng Plaridel

In Focus: UP students stage rally outside CHEd

By Joshua Dalupang

Amidst the changes in the Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program (STFAP) bracketing system, students from the University of the Philippines Diliman held a protest in front of the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) on June 13, blaming budget cuts and deregulated school fees for the “worsening crisis of education.”

Joining the protesters from UP Diliman were members of the UP Manila University Student Council, National Union of Students of the Philippines, League of Filipino Students, and Anakbayan-UPD.

Photos by Joshua Mark Dalupang

View complete photoset here.

In Focus: Masscomm says goodbye

Chit Estella paid her last visit to her second home. A day after her cremation Tuesday, the ashes of the late veteran journalist Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan were brought to the College of Mass Communication, where a memorial was held in celebration of Chit’s “well-lived life

Photos by Michelle Angelica Soriano, Roehl Nino Bautista and Joshua Mark Dalupang

Veteran journalist and daughter of UP comes home

By Marc Cayabyab

[Photo by Michelle Angelica Soriano]

Lourdes “Chit” Estella-Simbulan paid a last visit to her second home, as her ashes were brought to the College of Mass Communication for a memorial that celebrated the veteran journalist and professor’s “well-lived life.”

“Ngayong umaga, gunitain natin ang buhay ni Chit na may apoy, at ang apoy na kay ningning na nagbigay ng liwanag at init sa isang buhay na tunay na ikararangal ng unibersidad na tawagin kanyang mabuting anak (This morning, let us celebrate Chit’s life, whose lustrous fire gave off light and passion, and whom the University must be honored to call daughter),” said CMC Dean Rolando Tolentino.

Students and colleagues planted seedlings of Narra and Fire trees in front of the Media Center to honor the late professor.

Journalism Department chair Marichu Lambino said the “Chit Estella Ring of Fire trees and Narra trees” served as a symbol of Simbulan’s courage and strength.

Mourners were given white ribbonson which to write their goodbyes. These messages – most of which read, “We will miss you” – were tied to the seedlings.

To emphasize the celebratory nature of the memorial, program emcee and journalism faculty member Lucia Tangi forbade tears. In fact, Tangi said Chit would have wanted to have a videoke party for her wake.

Prof. Rachel Khan of the Journalism Department recounted how she first met Chit. They were both reporters on the Malacañang beat, Khan said, and Chit, who was then a reporter for the broadsheet Malaya, taught Khan “the diligence and perseverance needed in getting the story.”

Khan added Chit is probably laughing at the journalism faculty now, imagining her saying, “Sorry, nag-eenjoy na ako ngayon. Wala na akong stress. (Sorry, I’m enjoying right now. I don’t have any more stress).”

Khan addressed Chit, saying, “We miss your optimism, your sense of fun, and your strength.”

Chit also served as a therapist for most of her peers, and was, as Lambino said, the “best listener and the best processor of a litany of woes.”

“She never closed the door on me,” said Lambino, remembering her conversations with Chit which ranged from restaurants, newspaper lay-outs and to the wealth of politicians.

Asked what she would most remember about Simbulan, CMC administrative officer Gina Villegas said Simbulan always carried a smile for everyone. (Read: Leaving something for the ones left behind)

College secretary Danilo Arao read UP President Alfredo Pascual’s message, said, “The death of Simbulan is a tragic reminder of that which should spur us into action. Advocacy for road safety is just one of the things we as concerned citizens can do to start the process of giving meaning to her passing.”

Leaving something for the ones left behind

By Karlitos Brian Decena

Photo by Roehl Nino Bautista

Much has been said about the late Lourdes ‘Chit’ Estella Simbulan in the past few days, many of which have served to highlight her illustrious journalism career.

Yet for all her achievements, there was one thing most of the people she spent her life with remember best about Simbulan, who was “Ma’am Simbulan” to most of the students.

Her smile.

“She always smiled and always greeted you back when you greet her in the corridors,” said journalism student Jacques Jimeno, who was one of Ma’am Simbulan’s thesis advisees last semester.

As their adviser, she even pulled a trick on them – a memory of her that Jimeno counts as one of his favorites.

” I picked up our third draft from the Journ Department,” said Jimeno. “It had a tiny post-it stapled on top of it, and it had two boxes on top.”

“One box read: ‘Today is your lucky day,’ and the other: ‘Today is not your lucky day.’ The first box had a tick on it and below it she wrote, ‘OK for CD and hard copy.’”

He said, “I thought it was cute, and mainly I was just relieved we were done with the thesis.”

Journalism student Hans Dantes likewise recalled her “calm smile” and patience.

“She never got angry,” said Dantes, who took interpretative writing and journalism ethics under Ma’am Simbulan.

Ma’am Simbulan’s cheerful attitude also endeared her to students. Dantes recalled the time when he asked her to sign his Form 5. The encounter that was supposed to last a few seconds turned into a pleasantly lengthy conversation about his plans after graduation.

“(She was) professional as a journalist, but could also relate to students,” Dantes said.

Journalism professor Khrysta Rara called Simbulan a “peacemaker,” saying, “She always tried to see the good in the enemy.”.

Rara, who considered Simbulan her closest friend in the Journalism Department, recalled the things they enjoyed together: afternoon walks around the Academic Oval, halo-halo meriendas and even a visit to a fortune teller.

Journalists who once worked with Simbulan, more known in the newsroom as Chit, remembered both her dedication to her work and her placid nature.

“Beneath the gentle (character)… she has nerves of steel,” said columnist Ellen Tordesillas, who worked with Chit at VERA Files, a non-profit organization aimed at producing in-depth stories about issues in the country. Chit and Tordesillas were among the organization’s founders.

GMA News Online news editor Raffy Jimenez, meanwhile, said Chit was “soft-spoken and mother-like”.

“I think she’s quiet when she’s angry, because I’ve never seen her blow her top,” said Jimenez, who worked for seven years with the newspapers Chit edited: the Manila Times and Pinoy Times.

Jimenez witnessed Chit’s bravery when they fought for press freedom for the two newspapers.

In 1999, former president Joseph Estrada filed a P 101 million libel suit against the Manila Times for publishing a piece that called him the “unwitting ninong” of an anomalous government contract.

Despite pressure from Estrada and the Gokongweis who owned the newspaper, Chit still stood by the story. When the owners wrote an apology that appeared on the paper’s front page, Chit resigned from her post as managing editor. It was the painful decision to leave a paper she loved—along with her friends in it—that cemented Chit’s reputation as a truly principled journalist.

After her stint at the Manila Times, Chit became editor-in-chief of the Pinoy Times, a political tabloid in Filipino whichcontinued to be critical of Estrada. Though it only lasted two years due to financial problems, Jimenez, who had been one of the writers, said, “We always sought to report the truth despite all the risks involved.”

Simbulan’s cheerful yet brave attitude made her so beloved that when the news of her death broke, it saddened colleagues and students – even those who had never been in her classes.

“I never had the chance to be her student, but I admire her as a veteran journalist,” journalism student Kim Patria said. “She still serves as an inspiration for me, even if she was never my professor.”

Patria regrets not enrolling in any of her classes when she was still alive, but said he would certainly miss the only thing Ma’am Simbulan gave him every time they crossed paths within the campus.

Her smile.

A late paper for her late prof

By Xianne Arcangel

A former student paid tribute to University of the Philippines professor Lourdes Estella-Simbulan on the last day of her wake Monday by finally submitting a paper that was two years overdue.

In front of Simbulan’s family, friends and colleagues from the UP College of Mass Communication, Paula Mariz Pamatmat read the article she said she should have passed in her Feature Writing class in 2009. 

Pamatmat said she was not able to complete the course due to her failure to submit her paper to Simbulan.

The student who thought she was not liked by the professor because she was “too loud in class” wrote the article as a way of honoring her mentor, who died in a vehicular accident along Commonwealth Avenue on May 13. She was 54.

With her voice breaking, Pamatmat said, “I owe her this paper and though it’s a couple of years late, I knew that if this made it to her hands, she would choose to say encouraging words to tell me the things I did right, and would say with kind words the things I need to improve on. Because yes, she was the perfect mix—she was both a believer and a critic.”

Colleagues in the academe as well as current and former students paid tribute to Simbulan, also known as “Chit,” a veteran journalist who worked as a reporter for Tempo and the Philippine Daily Inquirer before becoming The Manila Times’ managing editor in 1995.

Television reporter Jam Sisante, who covered the first day of Simbulan’s wake for GMA-7, said it was both “surreal and heartbreaking” for her to have reported on her former professor’s death.

“I never thought that one day, I would cover the wake of the professor who taught me to do what I am doing now,” she said.

Fearless journalist and friend

Although Simbulan was known as a fearless journalist who once served as the editor-in-chief of Pinoy Times, a Filipino-language tabloid which published critical stories about former President Joseph Estrada during his term, fellow UP journalism professor Khrysta Rara will always remember her as a friend who did not hesitate to help when she was asked.

Rara recounted her request to Simbulan in the past to try to listen to her radio show every Thursday and text in questions for her to answer.

“She really found time to listen. During the show I would receive texts from people with different names, which I knew actually came from her,” she said.

Rara added that even Simbulan’s jokes reflected her “strong sense of social justice… and her heart [for] the victims and the unfortunate.”

“In fact, she joked [once], ‘Khrysta, kawawa naman yung NPA and MILF, they’re always getting bad press. What if I apply to be their spokesperson? I will guarantee them maximum exposure.’”

“How can you not love such a woman?”

For his part, widower Roland Simbulan said that although he thought he knew his wife very well after being married for almost 30 years, he was still surprised at some of the anecdotes her friends and colleagues shared during the wake.

What did not surprise him, however, were the kind words they had for her.

“Chit was a very gentle person. She was simple [and] soft-spoken, yet she [had] this inner strength, and was consistent and unmovable in her beliefs.”

Mr. Simbulan added that in their almost three decades of marriage, he saw the journalist not just as a strong wife but also as a “committed partner” in fighting for change in Philippine society.

With all the stories attesting how his wife had touched the lives of so many people, Mr. Simbulan said, “after hearing what has been said about her these past few nights, I’d like to ask, how can you not love such a woman?”

He admitted life now without his wife will be difficult as he had been used to her presence for close to 30 years.

“I’ll really miss her,” he said.

Simbulan was cremated Tuesday morning. Her ashes will be brought to the CMC for a memorial service on Wednesday at 10am at the CMC auditorium.