Farewell to a friend

Joel Palacios, a dear friend and colleague, died last Aug. 29 in the stabbing spree at the Central Park Condominium in Pasay City. It was a violent death and totally unexpected for a man like Joel who lived an unassuming and simple life. He was a teetotaler and friends remember him for his shrill and unique kind of laughter.

Palacios, 70, was one of the sponsors in the wedding of my son a few years back. He was a veteran journalist having worked as editor in a number of newspapers including the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Standard, Times Journal, The Manila Times and the British wire agency Reuters. When I was news editor of Manila Standard in the early 2000s, Joel was our executive editor.

Joel and I were colleagues not only in newspaper work but also in the teaching profession. We were both part-time journalism professors at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila and later at the Universidad de Manila. While I was the executive director of the PLM-based Center for Culture and Mass Media, I organized journalism seminars in Manila and provinces and Joel was one of our resource speakers.

While he was the executive vice president for corporate affairs of the Social Security System, Palacios helped a lot of his media colleagues with their problems with the SSS.

For those of us who are Christians and who believe in the afterlife, perhaps in Joel’s death we can find solace in Rabindranath Tagore, the great Indian poet and thinker, who said: “Death is not extinguishing the light; it is only putting out the lamp because the dawn has come.”

ALITO L. MALINAO, Bacoor City, Cavite