‘The love we share for dearest Letty’

Philippine Daily Inquirer’s editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

ONE of my regrettable idiosyncratic quirks is my hesitation or inability to immediately write long and comprehensive tributes to friends and colleagues who have passed away—for the simple reason that words appear to be too limited and frail to express the feelings of loss and gratitude that I have for them.

So, when I was asked to write about my editor in chief and longtime friend, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, right after her shocking demise, my initial impulse was to beg off. I didn’t know where to begin—and how to find the words to encompass what I felt for her.

But, I’ve now been able to surmount that feeling of inadequacy, because I’ve been so moved by other colleagues and friends’ glowing and heartfelt tributes to her, despite their own deep grief and loss. They have feelingly taught me that grief can be trumped by the far stronger need to look back and express gratitude—and the love we share for dearest Letty.

What could go wrong?

The dark times began for me, ironically enough, at the Inquirer’s 30th anniversary dinner at Marriott Hotel on Dec. 9. I was exceedingly happy when the Inquirer founding chair Eggie Apostol made her eagerly awaited appearance. The  evening would have been truly perfect were it not for the absence of our beloved editor in chief.

Letty belatedly and regretfully sent word that she wasn’t feeling well enough to join us, and I got worried because, knowing her, she wouldn’t have missed our 30th anniversary celebration for the world.

So, in the following days, I kept asking if Letty had recovered and gone back to the office—and kept getting negative answers. Still, she had been sick before, so I optimistically prayed for her recovery. It was the Christmas season, after all, what could go really wrong?

Until it did—and we’re still trying to recover from the loss of our leader and friend, in different ways. My way is to recall, celebrate and feel grateful for the happy and eventful times I shared with Letty, ever since I first got to know and work with her, under Eggie’s auspices, at the Mr. & Ms. magazine in the 1970s.

Prized standout

Those were exciting times for the print media, and I felt so blessed that I was working with the best and the brightest, since Eggie had the unique knack for spotting and astutely mentoring the finest comers, among whom Letty was one of the prized standouts, having already proven her mettle and the courage of her convictions as editor of Panorama magazine.

Then Eggie founded the Inquirer at a time of even greater national ferment, and Letty edited the Sunday Inquirer Magazine with great distinction, while I later joined them in various capacities, editing the arts, entertainment and lifestyle sections, at different times.

The time came when Eggie made Letty the Inquirer’s editor in chief, and the scope of her responsibilities increased—exponentially. For my part, I was eventually tapped by Eggie to edit the Sunday Inquirer Magazine, and it was such an honor for me to try to step into Letty’s “iconic” shoes.

I was so grateful to her when she went out of her way to support me in my new endeavor, and her encouraging comments made my editing year. Emboldened by her support, I “dared” to ask Letty to write a cover story for the magazine. Despite her very hectic schedule, she agreed.

A ‘bleeder’

Trouble was, she was so busy that it took her a really long time to finish writing the very analytical and comprehensive article. Little did I know that, as a writer, she was famous for being a “bleeder”—in other words, she agonized over all of her pieces until they met her rigorous standards.

So, the night before the day of the magazine’s absolute printing deadline, I “camped” outside her office, motivating her to work faster—until, at something like 2 a.m., she finally thrust the prized cover story into my eager hands (mainit pa).

That was the working relationship that developed between us—she was clearly and absolutely my boss, but I felt I could be relaxed and candid with her, because that was what she preferred.

Dream come true

Another happy highlight of my “Letty years” at the Inquirer was the time when she tapped me to edit the paper’s Saturday Special section. She moved me when she very fervently shared with me at our first planning meeting, “Every day, when I go to the office, I remind myself what a great privilege it is to work for the Inquirer!”

She said those words so simply and sincerely that I’ve never forgotten them, and I’ve made them my own reminder to keep doing my utmost best for this newspaper, because it’s read by and influences so many people—a writer’s dream come true.

Letty’s support for Saturday Special and my Viewfinder column in this paper’s Entertainment section was a key factor in my success and effectivity in pushing for much-needed reforms in the arts and show biz fields.

Since I don’t “do gossip” but focus instead on evaluating stars and creative artists’ work, Letty was extra happy when she would call me to her office to inform me that my articles and columns were appreciated by many readers.

I returned the compliment by sincerely saying that one of the best articles I ever read was her moving piece on Dr. Constantino Manahan after the violent death of his wife, Elvira. After becoming editor in chief of the Inquirer, Letty did not have the time to do much writing, but that especially insightful article showed what a superlative writer and interviewer she could be.

Study in contrasts

Another time, turning the tables on Letty, I invited her to guest on “Two for the Road,” the TV show I cohosted with Elvira, with her sister, television host Lourdes Jimenez Carvajal (Inday Badiday).

For many years, people kept commenting on how “perplexingly different” the two siblings were, so Elvira, our director Maria Montelibano and I felt that it was time to focus and shed insightful light on that “perplexing” relationship on TV.

Surprisingly, the usually reticent Letty agreed to the interview and it ended up as one of our best shows. Both she and Inday came through exceedingly well—and their deep love for one another, despite their famously being “a study in contrasts,” shone through.

Speaking of Inday, she also wrote a column for Saturday Special, and as her editor, I was happy to see that she was opting to “transition” from her old image as a “gossip” columnist and talk show host, to a more significantly thematic writer: She still wrote about stars and their lives, but she was now interested, not in their scandals and “sins,” but in the life lessons that could be drawn therefrom.

As Inday’s section editor, I tried to help her pull off the thematic and stylistic change—and, after Inday passed away, Letty gratified me when she asked me to edit the book of Inday’s best columns that she intended to publish.

In another context, both Letty and I were friends and fans of the esteemed writer, reviewer and great supporter of Philippine arts and culture, Doreen Fernandez, and we were so happy when Doreen chose to run her prized theater reviews in Saturday Special.

In those days, Philippine theater was generally neglected and overlooked, despite its great promise. Being a longtime theater person, I felt that the Inquirer could help popularize local productions by sponsoring an annual theater award, so I persuaded Letty to support the move. To make the awards eminently credible, we decided that Doreen should be put in charge of the vetting and awarding process. Doreen agreed to our plan but her husband, Willi, fell ill and she had to focus on taking care of him. So our planned awards for excellence in Filipino theater were sadly “overtaken by events.”

Ethical problem

Most dramatically of all, the time came when Saturday Special was faced with an ethical problem involving possible “payola”—a nonnegotiable no-no for both Letty and me. In the past, whenever “grease” money was sent to me, we already had a “system” for dealing with it, whereby I gave her the money and she informed the “giver” that she was “donating” it to a charitable organization—in the giver’s show biz or PR outfit’s name!

That worked well for us, but this case was different because it involved other people, so a new solution had to be thought up. Being a director, I suggested to Letty a “good cop-bad cop” scenario that involved her doing some role-playing. And she again surprised me by agreeing to (very believably) play her part. Well, our scenario worked, the problem was fixed with minimal “collateral” damage, and I saw Letty and her readiness to “creatively” solve problems in a bracingly new light.

The strongest bond I was able to forge with Letty through the years was our mutual interest in spirituality. Her faith was deeper than mine (she heard Mass every day), but I also tried to deepen my devotion by writing a lot of religious articles, especially after the late June Keithley asked me to help her in her spiritual advocacy. June invited famous visionaries from different parts of the world to tour the country and speak to many religious groups and congregations.

Spiritual interaction

I joined the speaking tours of Vassula Ryden, Christina Gallagher and Julia Kim, among others, and wrote extensively about them—and June was so happy that the Inquirer, with Letty’s full support, made many readers aware of the key spiritual insights the visiting visionaries had to share.

In the course of this spiritual interaction with Letty and June, I was able to better appreciate how profoundly their deep faith had transformed them. They both lived “contradictory” lives, working in “hard-nosed” media while putting their faith at the top of their priorities, but they managed to beautifully resolve any possible conflict by seeing God in the people they chose to serve and help.

For my part, aside from religious articles and interviews with visionaries, I also wrote and directed many plays and musicals with spiritual themes—and Eggie and Letty were very supportive of them, as well.

My productions and Letty dovetailed most personally when Eggie watched a performance of Ryan Cayabyab and my religious musical, “Magnificat,” and liked it so much that she decided to invite our group to perform it at the Inquirer, as her special birthday gift to Letty, who was a Marian devotee.

Hit religious musical

“Magnificat” had already been performed in other unusual venues like hospitals, basketball courts and even prisons, but our performance at the mezzanine of the Inquirer building was one of our most memorable and gratifying performances, because Letty, Eggie and our other colleagues in the audience were so appreciative.

In fact many of them wrote about the unusual experience, and after their reviews came out, we got so many more invitations to perform all over the country. So, it’s no exaggeration to say that “Magnificat” was the hit religious musical that the Inquirer “made.”

My last interaction with Letty happened only recently, when we discussed possible choices for the vacant post of editor for the Entertainment section of the Inquirer.

She had put off making up her mind on the matter—until the night we had an “ambush” chat at the office and I saw her stop, think, react, then announce to me that she had just made her final choice. It would be my assistant editor at Saturday Special, Rito Asilo, whose work she had favorably commented on previously. It was her “spirituality” at work again, for sure.

Later, she confirmed my hunch by sharing that the Holy Spirit had indeed moved her that very moment, so she was sure that she had made the best choice. After all, the Holy Spirit had helped inspire or “enlighten” her to make it.