October 9, 2009 · Posted in: General
Pabicool: For Alecks
by Ben Moncerate
Alecks’s passing was the first Facebook news that morning in our current part of the world. It left Charm and I convulsed in tears as we embraced by the window of our flat in Bogota. In front of computer screens around the world, other friends probably wept as we did, or let the tears flow quietly, or maybe even tried to hold them back, lips pursed painfully.
I had not seen Alecks in person in at least a couple of years. I grieve with his family and friends who were with him as he struggled with his ailment but as I try to re-capture his image in my mind, he just could not be sick or bereft of life. He stands there appearing laid back, of course, but his eyes tell he is ready with some quip to whatever it is I would have tried to say. As always, he looked cool.
When I joined the Collegian in 1989, I knew Alecks as the one who, among other things, covered sports in his “Pabicourt” column and was a frequent contributor to “Eksenang Peyups”. The calm, soft-spoken but funny guy who contributed a steady stream of news stories. And a couple of years later, he was capable of topping the Collegian exams just like that.
I did not have the privilege of staying long under Alecks’s term as editor-in-chief in the Collegian as I would take a more active role in Samasa instead, but our paths would still frequently cross.
Alecks was also part of the Maginhawa Collective – that intellectual commune cum perpetual open house along a stretch of Maginhawa Street, Teachers Village a few blocks from Philcoa.
The mid-1990s edition of the Maginhawa Collective that also included Alecks (already with PCIJ) conspired to take over a weekly spread on technology (“New Worlds” we called it) in The Manila Times under Malou Mangahas (who would also be Alecks’s last boss at the PCIJ). Although we could ill afford many of the gadgets we read about, we were electrified by the confidence of youthful writers/dreamers and the early issues of Wired magazine from Book Sale.
Alecks wrote stories on the impact of technology on human relations and conduct. He was always a terrific writer without appearing to try too hard. As Alecks was personally funny, I had always found his writing insightful and eloquent.
I would work a few more years in the old-tech newspaper, writing about new-tech and apart from also managing a modest Times website, my full-blown online media experience would come later in the 21st century. But for Alecks, even from the early to mid-1990s (ancient by tech time), he would go on to combine his tech savvy and fierce intellect to keep PCIJ “wired” – as well as display his abundant writing skills now and then. Alecks, as we know, would spend the rest of his working life at PCIJ as a true pioneer in online media – for which he appears to be now gaining greater recognition.
To each his own life we went but the occasional crossing of paths would bring easy reminiscences along with new conversations. An encounter with Alecks would naturally be a time of laughter and remembering, but it would also always be interesting.
Romel – Maginhawa stalwart and Alecks’s best friend – wrote me a most generous birthday greeting this year on my Facebook wall:
“Friend, comrade, drinking buddy–may you continue to be afflicted by the curse that binds us all who come from the Maginhawa collective: an inconvenient set of scruples, a keen (and therefore often frustrating) sense of justice, an embarrassing passion for literature and poetry, wicked humor and a predilection for getting lost in meandering conversations about the universe and everything.”
Alecks was of course afflicted by that shared curse – which we will happily embrace as long as we can. While Alecks lived in other circles he probably held more dear, it will always weigh in our hearts that the Maginhawa Collective has now, quite suddenly, lost one of its own.
Charm and I are unable to make the modest gesture of paying our last respects at the UP Chapel but like others who find themselves away, we shall remember.
Alecks was one of the coolest persons I knew. Seemingly unfazed by many things he was but also known to be capable of great generosity with his emotions. He was fiercely intelligent. His humor was quick and smart but never harsh. He was a much beloved partner and father. He lived his life as a man of integrity. In all seriousness, how much cooler can anybody get?
You will be so terribly missed, Alecks.
