Fond remembrances of Dr. Crispulo Icban Jr., editor in chief of the Manila Bulletin
WELL-RESPECTED MEDIA MAN Mr. Icban’s favorite photo taken in his office while he was press secretary under PGMA administration
In the 1980s, the Icban family would go to the Ali Mall in Cubao on Sunday afternoons for dinner. On the way there from Project 8, where they lived, Mr. Icban would purchase sampaguita from the street peddlers. He’d bring the strings of sampaguita to the mall and, as the family walked around, he would fall behind and eventually disappear. They would find him later standing by the mall entrance holding the sampaguita like he was selling them. He would pretend to be a poor old, deaf-mute man, so that someone would take pity and buy from him the flower leis he had just bought to help street peddlers.
(MANILA BULLETIN)
To us, Mr. Icban was not only the editor-in-chief of Manila Bulletin, he was an icon in Philippine journalism respected by government and private sector leaders, adored like a rock star by journalism students who had the privilege to sit in one of his impromptu lectures, and in the newsroom, he was the boss who started the afternoon with the story conference.
Last Monday, April 5, 2021, our treasure and national icon in journalism, Crispulo M. Icban Jr., passed away. He was 85 years old.
It would be an understatement to say that he had touched many lives. In the 47 years that he worked with the Manila Bulletin, Mr. Icban had inspired at least two generations of working journalists and could-have-been newsmen.
Senator Dick Gordon
“So very sad that my very dear friend Jun Icban of the Bulletin has passed on. He was a journalist for all seasons. His death is a very irreparable loss to the industry. He was soft spoken and totally respected for his kindness and took his job very professionally,” he tweeted.
Icban, a former Press Secretary during President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration, died Monday at the age of 85.
Gordon expressed condolences to his bereaved family and the Manila Bulletin family as he offered prayers for Icban, whom he has known for the last 50 years.
“I am sure that we will all feel the deep void from his loss. We condole with the family of Jun Icban and the Bulletin folks. We pray for the repose of his soul and that may he rest in peace,” he said.