LIMUEL Celebria, co-founder of Daily Guardian and a respected pillar of the Iloilo press, passed away on July 4, 2025. He was 69.
Celebria, who was born on April 17, 1956, helped establish Daily Guardian alongside his namesake, Lemuel T. Fernandez. His journalistic career was distinguished by his incisive writing style, editorial discipline, and unwavering commitment to responsible journalism.
"LSC’s prose was a cut above the rest in style and substance. He was known as a mentor whose editorial guidance was seen as enlightenment and encouragement," Daily Guardian said in the post.
The post described him as someone whose sarcasm was remembered as “witty but never caustic, and his critiques as sharp but never hurtful.”
As an editor, Celebria fostered a culture of camaraderie and mutual respect in the newsroom. He was often remembered for the Daily Guardian team’s after-work routines — closing the paper together, then spending late nights over coffee or beer, sharing stories and laughter in forgotten city haunts.
His work consistently reflected the classical journalistic ideal to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”
Colleagues and readers admired the depth, wit, and social relevance of his writing. He shaped the standards of community journalism in Western Visayas not just through his words, but also through the many reporters and editors he mentored during his decades-long career.
Celebria was survived by his wife, Gina, and their children Li-An, Gabriel, and Carl Angelo.
“He always ended our newsroom nights with the words, ‘Last round ta? Ok a. Day lihog last round na kami a. Ang cold gid ha…,’” Fernandez said in a tribute. “And now for my last song, Tokayo would thereafter declare — much to the relief of Gina, the wifey. The Iloilo press has just lost another pillar.” (Leo Solinap)