This time of year, I remember dear artists, writers, and publishers whose lives I shared all too briefly: Felicito Abiva, Shirley Advincula, Carol Afan, Nick Agudo, Wilfredo Alberca, Asuncion Albert, Odette Alcantara, Edilberto Alegre, Reynaldo Alejandro, Estrella Alfon, Zeneida Amador, Lilia Pablo Amansec, Ang Kiukok, Carlos Angeles, Pacifico N. Aprieto, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Francisco Arcellana, Liwayway Arceo, Monico Atienza, Lamberto Avellana, Jose Ayala,
Inday Badiday, Concesa Baduel, Filemon “Billy” Balbastro Jr., Gopal Baratham, Corinta Barranco, Nazario D. Bas, Brigido C. Batungbakal, Manuel Principe Bautista, Betty Go-Belmonte, Luis Beltran, Teodoro Benigno, Trinidad Benito, Ishmael Bernal, Benjamin Bernales, Mike Bigornia, Nida Blanca, Mario Bolasco, Raul Bonoan SJ, Art Borjal, Santi Bose, Lino Brocka, Jose Buhain,
Aurelio Calderon, Jeremias A. Calixto, Giovanni Calvo, George Canseco, Guadalupe Carbonell, Ledivina Cariño, Celso Carunungan, Gabriel Casal, Alex Casambre, Levi Celerio, Claro Ceniza, Renato Constantino, Adrian Cristobal, Andres Cristobal Cruz, Jesus Cruz, Jose Cruz SJ, Patricia Melendrez-Cruz,
Concepcion Dadufalza, Edilberto Dagot, Petronilo Bn. Daroy, Joy de Castro, Pio De Castro III, Horacio de la Costa, Adul de Leon, Ricaredo Demetillo, Francisco Demetrio, Eduardo Deveza, Fe Dizon, Rafael Donato FSC, Maria Luisa Doronila, Martin Drury, Antonio Dulalia,
Antony Easthope, Jean Edades, Anacleta Encarnacion, Emigdio Enriquez, Virgilio Enriquez, Nieves Epistola, S. V. Epistola, Merito Espinas, Clemencia Espiritu, Aurelio Estanislao, Ariston Estrada, Frankie Evangelista, Winnie Evangelista, Pacita Fernandez, Rudy Fernandez, Susan Fernandez, Wili Fernandez, Marcelino Foronda, Henry Francia, Hilario Francia Jr.,
Lamberto Ma. Gabriel, Carolina Garcia, Rita Gomez, Andrew Gonzalez FSC, NVM Gonzalez, Salvador Gonzalez, Leonor Orosa-Goquingco, Joey Gosengfiao, Sidney Greenbaum, Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero, Luisa Mallari-Hall, Atang de la Rama Hernandez, Sid Gomez Hildawa, Eduardo Hontiveros SJ, Alejandrino Hufana, Dominador Ilio, J. Eddie Infante, Nick Joaquin, Estelita Juco, Ogie Juliano, Lucrecia Kasilag, Maria Kalaw Katigbak,
Emmanuel Lacaba, Amado Lacuesta Jr., Serafin Lanot, Jose Lansang Jr., Pura Kalaw Ledesma, Leandro Locsin, Raul Locsin, Salvador P. Lopez, Rogelio Lota, Ella Luansing, Mochtar Lubis,
Jose Maceda, Fidela “Tiya Dely” Mendoza-Magpayo, Cesar Majul, Armando Malay, Frank Mallo, Vicente Manansala, Raul Manglapus, E. Arsenio Manuel, Antonio Manuud, Bert Marcelo, Nonoy Marcelo, Josefina Mariano, Epifanio Matute, Genoveva Edroza Matute, Isagani Medina, Felicidad Mendoza, Eddie Mercado, Helen Meriz, Maningning Miclat, Graham Millington, Carminia Miraflor, Dominador Mirasol, Lina Espina Moore, Alfredo Morales, Santiago Adv. Mulato,
Orlando Nadres, Julie Fe Navarro, Clovis Nazareno, Ana Maria Escalante-Neri, Antonio Ma. Nieva, Evaristo Nievera, Valerio Nofuente, Wilfrido Nolledo, Bienvenido Noriega Jr., Alfeo Nudas SJ, Ramon Obusan, Onib Olmedo, Blas Ople, Sedfrey Ordoñez, Victor Ordoñez, Jose Orosa, Franklin Osorio, Fe Otanes, Rey Paguio, Loreto Paras-Sulit, Emy Pascasio, Benjamin M. Pascual, Benjamin P. Pascual, Guillermo Pesigan, Manuel Pichel, Ponciano Pineda, Joaquin Po, Andy Poe, Fernando Poe Jr., Nina Estrada Puyat,
Douglas Quijano, Carlos Quirino, Jose Quirino, Jess Ramos, Felicitas Reyes, Godofredo S. Reyes, Evelyn Ribaya, Carolina Rionda, Pete Roa, Ruth Roa, Raul S. Roco, Francisco Rodrigo, Richard Rorty, Ma. Teresa Escoda Roxas, Ben Rubio,
Bonifacio Salamanca, Letty Salanga, Dionisio Salazar, Oscar Salazar, Leopoldo Salcedo, Rachel San Miguel, Lucio San Pedro, Romulo Sandoval, Josefa Saniel, Cirio Santiago, Bienvenido N. Santos, William Henry Scott, Raman Selden, Jesus Sibal, Bonifacio Sibayan, Rogelio Sicat, Chat Silayan, Vic Silayan, Felixberto Sta. Maria, Elpidio Sta. Romana, Osmundo Sta. Romana, Vito C. Santos, Agustin Sotto, Trinidad Tarrosa Subido, Conchita Sunico,
Josefina A. Tabujara, Alfredo Tiamson, Edilberto K. Tiempo, Rolando Tinio, Lito Tiongson, Mae Astrid Tobias, Romeo Togonon, Cesario Torres, Filonila Tupas, Vic Vargas, Joven Velasco, Rey Ventura, Danny Villanueva, Rene O. Villanueva, Manuel Viray, Wilfredo Virtusio, Virgilio Vito, Yoshiko Wakayama, Mary Walter, Leopoldo Yabes, Ernesto Superal Yee, and Winton Lou Ynion.
I also remember the departed members of the Manila Critics Circle (Leonidas Benesa, Miguel A. Bernad, Doreen Fernandez, and Alfrredo Navarro Salanga), my bridge-playing friends (Enrique Belo, Linda Campos, Phyllis Harvey, Syed Zeyaul Hoda, Paquito Javier, Dioscoro Papa, Helen Saad, Vic Santiago, Teresa Yuchengco, and Sachiko Zobel), my fellow Fulbrighters (Corazon Agrava, Marcelo Fernan, and Max Soliven), my fellow UPSCANs (Francisco Abao Jr., Ramon Casas, Violeta Calvo-Drilon, Mervyn Encanto, Generoso Gil, Bienvenido M. Lim Jr., Emmeline Quinio, Wilfrido Santiano, and Raquel Zaraspe-Ordoñez), my colleagues in FUSE (Josefina Cortes, Alberto Muyot, and Marsh Thompson), and my literary sister Lina Santos Cortes Raquion (daughter of my literary father Bienvenido N. Santos).
Please say a special prayer for my mother Pacita Ronquillo Cruz, in her youth a short story writer, and my father Ricardo Castillo Cruz, a scientist who loved to read.
BOOK MONTH: November is Philippine Book Development Month. The National Book Development Board (NBDB) has prepared an exciting line-up of book-related activities for the month, in a program called “Galing Pinoy, Basahin!” (The word galing, as NBDB’s Executive Director Andrea Pasion-Flores points out in the latest issue of Bookwatch, may be pronounced two ways to mean either “from” or “talent.”)
Among the activities this month are: Food and Writing Tour: An Overnight Adventure (Nov. 7-8), How to Read the Next Generation: Poetry, Fiction, and Non-Fiction (Nov. 10-12), the National Book Awards Awarding Ceremonies (Nov. 14), Reading Nick Joaquin (Nov. 16), the Davao Academic Publishing Seminar and Writers’ Night (Nov. 19-21), Celebrating the Global Pinoy (Nov. 24), Books and Art Festival @ Greenbelt (Nov. 23-26), and a Performance Reading of El Filibusterismo (Nov. 25). Visit www.nbdb.gov.ph for details.