I was an opinion editor of SunStar Cebu when veteran journalists who have passed away still wrote for the paper. I enjoyed the job so much that I refused the offer to edit the sports pages when my good friend Jobannie Tabada left for the proverbial “greener pastures” abroad. I was an opinion editor for much of my nearly two-decade stay with SunStar. Thus I was saddened by the news that veteran journalist Juan Mercado, who I fondly called “Sir Johnny,” had passed away.
Sir Johnny’s columns were syndicated, meaning SunStar was only one of several newspapers that published them. But he had already stopped sending articles to SunStar before I retired in 2019. I am not that inquisitive (or “marites” as the current generation would say) so I never asked why he stopped writing columns. Writers always have this itch to write when certain favorite issues crop up.
Which reminds me of another veteran journalist, Godofredo “Sir Godo” Roperos. He was sometimes based in his hometown Balamban and sometimes in Cebu City months before his passing and he would submit his columns via fax. I noticed later that he seemed to struggle writing his columns. I had to decipher the gist of what he wanted to convey just to be able to publish his articles. Then when I already found that process tedious, we decided that it was time for him to stop writing columns altogether. He passed away months later.
When Sir Johnny stopped writing, I accepted it as part of the process of going old. I didn’t ask about it from his relatives or friends, not even from Pachico Seares, our editor-in-chief then. I simply moved on by finding filler articles for the space previously occupied by his once-a-week columns. I remember him as a man of towering frame, which was a metaphor for what he had become for Cebuano journalism. He wrote in the old style, a writing style that I tried to learn from while reading (not really editing) his works. Every time I would talk with him during his visits, I would feel small not only physically but also because I thought my achievements in journalism could never compare to his.
Sir Johnny was a towering and respected figure in Cebuano journalism. His success in the field also seemed to extend into his personal life. I never heard any stories that reflected poorly on him as a family man—and that made my appreciation for him grow even more. He never demanded respect from us, but whenever he visited the office, I could sense how much the younger generation of journalists at the time looked up to him.
Of course, times have changed. New technology has democratized the spread of information. Everybody can now use platforms that were not available to veteran journalists. And as they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. The spread of fake news and the invention of artificial intelligence have made it difficult for purveyors of the truth, veteran journalists who have embraced journalism ethics all their lives among them, to do their thing.