N.B. – This is a testimonial I gave at the tribute to Prof. Luis V. Teodoro, Jr. as he celebrated his 75th birthday at the Executive House, UP Diliman last August 25.

Let me start with a warning: This may sound like a eulogy, but it obviously isn’t. And if this sounds like a biased assessment of our man of the hour, it most definitely is!

You cannot help but be biased for a person who has made an impact in your life. In the case of our birthday celebrator, he was my teacher in interpretive writing in the 1980s, he was the dean when I became a part-time teacher in the mid-1990s, and he was a colleague when I decided to teach full-time beginning in 2001. Even if he has already retired, I would like to think that we’re still colleagues as we coordinate closely on various issues related to media, like the campaigns against the cyber-crime law and the unabated killings of journalists and media workers.

As a teacher, former students like me have experienced having their submitted articles scrutinized in front of the whole class, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses (although there were more weaknesses than strengths) in form and substance. Given his serious demeanor and no-nonsense attitude inside the classroom, we were pushed to perform well in the courses he handled. If memory serves, his courses especially in journalism ethics are the most in-demand in the College of Mass Communication (CMC) as students vie for limited slots to learn from someone who knows what he is talking about, someone who practices what he preaches.

As the college dean from 1994 to 2000, I can attest to his being a visionary leader. Make no mistake about it, the Media Center that you see now near Plaridel Hall was his idea, and I am sure that he is somewhat happy that the seeds he planted more than 20 years ago are now bearing fruit (government bureaucracy notwithstanding), although we still have a long way to go. Together with Dean Georgina Encanto in the late 1980s, Sir Teodoro who was then the chair of the Department of Journalism also helped initiate the Graciano Lopez Jaena Community Journalism Workshop which still exists today as the training ground for community journalists and selected journalism students and educators. It was also during his deanship that the College became socially involved and relevant, coming up with official statements to make public the sharpest analysis of burning issues in the mass media. Suffice it to say that the CMC had the respect of the journalism and media community as it was led by one of its own.

As a colleague, he helped me survive the tortuous years of getting tenure from the supposedly premier state university that espouses honor and excellence but still remains largely intolerant of those who dare speak truth to power. Perhaps the best advice he has given me is not to compromise my principles just to be on the good side of the powers-that-be. And when it was my turn to occupy administrative positions at the College and UP System levels, he was there when I needed advice.

Due to lack of time (and because this is the least important), I will not explain in detail anymore some of my personal dealings with him. Anyway, he was a principal sponsor to my church wedding in 2004, and he was the one who advised me privately never again to sing in public. And since I value his advice, I should tell you, sir, that the last time I held a microphone near a church was in front of the COMELEC building in Intramuros with the anti-riot police as my captive audience. In 2007, he sold me his blue Suzuki Vitara at an outrageously discounted price. I kept it well-maintained, sir, in the same way you’ve kept it clean and presentable even if the car is in its 20th year already.

I should end this short tribute to say that he is more than just a teacher, a dean and a colleague. He is, to borrow his own definition of professor, a professor who professes. Perhaps the youth who are now deprived of the opportunity to learn from the Master himself can take consolation from reading his numerous books. I highly recommend the more recent ones, In Medias Res and Vantage Point, as these provide the sharpest analyses of the chronic crisis in our society without using the words semi-feudal and semi-colonial. But if you ask me my favorite Teodoro book, that would be The Undiscovered Country, a collection of his short stories written when he was in his 20s.

Again, pardon me for being biased. But I hope that this product placement of his works would result in enlightenment for many, and increased royalties for our man of the hour. Happy 75th birthday, Luis Villegas Teodoro, Jr. (yes, he is a junior even if he is now a senior). Thank you.