Published May 2, 2021, 6:45 PM
MEET THE NEW PUBLISHER AT THE MANILA BULLETIN Sec. Sonny Coloma
The board and management of Manila Bulletin Corporation are pleased to announce the appointment of executive vice president Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. as publisher of the Manila Bulletin effective May 1, 2021, replacing Dr. Crispulo J. Icban, who passed away on April 5, 2021.
Mr. Loreto D. Cabañes has also been named editor in chief of the Manila Bulletin effective May 1, 2021, also replacing Mr. Icban.
Prior to joining the Manila Bulletin as executive vice president, Sec. Coloma served under three former presidents. He was in the cabinet of former President Benigno Aquino III as communication secretary and presidential spokesperson. He served as transportation undersecretary in former President Joseph Estrada’s administration, where he headed the Philippine delegation to the International Maritime Organization. Under former President Corazon Aquino, he was head of the president
Published April 13, 2021, 12:08 AM
The quiet general, who was the source of his troops’ quiet confidence in battle, that was what Crispulo Julio “Jun” Icban, Jr. meant to the Manila Bulletin reporters.
Now that the “general” is gone, MB reporters can’t help but reflect on how their beloved “Sir Icban” made them believe that they were each extraordinary, even if all one did was perform a job.
“Reporters, like a normal person, have insecurities. For a bunch of reasons, I sometimes feel limited or not as good when compared to my colleagues from other media outfits,” said Ellson Quismorio, an MB reporter since August 2003.
Mr. Icban said: “Rey, I am planning to write an editorial on your front page story on Supreme Court directing PhilHealth (Philippine Health Insurance Corporation) employees to return what they received for efficiency, medical, education, other benefits 13 or 14 years ago.”
Then Mr. Icban said: “Alam mo Rey (you know Rey) naaawa ako sa mga empleyadong eto (I pity these employees). Hindi nila hiningi, ibinigay tapos ipasasauli (they did not ask, it was given, and now they have to return).”
“Our editorial would be an appeal to the government to be considerate and to look into the plight of these employees,” he told me.
Former Speaker of the House
Since the onslaught of the Coronavirus pandemic in our country early last year, we have lost relatives, old friends, and former colleagues in the House of Representatives either due to COVID-19 or to other causes.
We earlier mentioned in this column that we felt bad that we could not personally pay our last respects to them because of the restrictions being imposed by our authorities, which are necessary in order to curb the spread of the raging deadly virus. Several times, we paid tribute to departed friends and colleagues in this column as our modest way of honoring their life and legacy.
Published April 11, 2021, 12:12 AM
Mr. Icban never really noticed me, until I wrote a poem.
I attended the 10-day Singapore Writers Festival and brought home with me this burning desire to write in verse. I used to write poetry as a kid, but I outgrew it. While working for glossy magazines, I started writing poetry again to accompany the fashion editorials or travel photographs when, instead of facts, what I would like to convey was a mood or an atmosphere but moving to the newspaper, I had this mistaken notion that there was no room for poetry in the news, even in the lifestyle beat.