Artists, friends to pay tribute to Alcala

Fellow artists and friends and colleagues in academe will gather tomorrow to pay tribute to cartoonist Larry Alcala during necrological services set 7 p.m. at the Claret Church social hall in Teacher’s Village, Diliman, Quezon City.

On Sunday, Alcala will be laid to rest at the Loyola Memorial Park at Sucat, Parañaque, after a Mass at 1 p.m. at Claret Church.

Among the speakers at the services are National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Araceli Dans, Samahan ng Kartunista ng Pilipinas (SKP) president Boy Togonon, Neil Doloricon, UP Chancellor Emerlita Roman, UP Vice President Prof. Jose Endriga and Beaulah Taguiwalo, chairwoman of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People.

Joining them is longtime friend, journalist Neal Cruz, who inspired Alcala’s most popular cartoon, "Slice of Life," which debuted in 1980 in The Weekly Nation magazine.

"We hope all artist friends of Mr. Alcala will be there," said Rey Concepcion, acting dean of the UP College of Fine Arts, which is organizing the tribute.

Alcala studied and taught at the college, and was the chairman of the visual arts department when he retired.

Alcala died of heart failure on June 24 in Bacolod City, where he had been living since 1996. His body lies in state at the Claret Church social hall in Teacher’s Village, the suburb where the cartoonist resided for 30 years before moving down south.