Think about it
Max Soliven died with his boots on
By Jun Velasco
IT was our brod Dan who texted us the “killer” message as early as 7:30 a.m. Friday: “Max Soliven died at 7 am today. I mourn the passing of an era of lively and great column writing.”
When a loved one, a revered one, an “idol” dies, a part of self dies, too. This was probably why Joy of The Punch kept nagging us for our column in the nick of final deadline.
As our daily menu, we usually glance at the headlines of three Manila dailies – the Inquirer, Star and the Bulletin, and by force of habit, turn the pages to our favorite columnists. Manong Max is always first, an old, old habit that began with the old Manila Times, when we were still in high school.
We first met Max in one of his visits in the early 60’s to Dagupan, as a close friend of the late orig Punchman Ermin Sr. We’ve bumped into him in several journalism seminars and media huddles in Manila.
Fact is the new elderly club of journalists “Plaridel” which he heads as chairman came from the womb of the National Press Club right in our special committee co-chaired with fellow director Lolit Acosta, when president Louie Logarta tasked us to resurrect old members to ironically rejuvenate the club.
Plaridel headed by Philippine Air Lines vice president for communications Rolly Estabillo as president and Manong Max as chairman is now alive and kicking.
Whenever we crossed path, he instinctively would ask about the Sunday Punch and show off a wide grin whenever we talked about the paper’s new elan under his best friend’s junior.
In the 80’s, Max, along with the late Joe Luna Castro, Charlie Nievera, Melchor Aquino and Johnny Perez, was always the life of the party in our monthly meeting at Century Park. We were their “errand boy” by virtue of our position as managing director of Joe de Venecia’s company — the country’s foremost data bank which published the l980 Outstanding Leaders of the Philippines.
The jovial Max Soliven would crack a joke on the latest manhood enhancer, leaving Charisse Garcia, then Century Park Sheraton’s PR directress, and us wondering if they were suffering from premature dysfunction. But Max has outlived all of them, and in a surprise meeting at Duty Free general manager Benjie Lim’s office, Manong Max boasted to us his staying power. The manong, journalism professor of Joe de V at the Ateneo, was fond of Benjie who in turn helped him put up a duty free shop in Subic.
With his passing, the world of journalism in these parts will never be the same again. While we wrote this column, Roy Mabasa, president of the National Press Club, kept calling us to attend to the nitty gritty of a journalism seminar the club was supposed to hold yesterday at the University of Pangasinan.
Even in that affair, we could see Manong Max’s face smiling and still hear his summons to all of us practitioners reverberating “to keep writing, keep punching until you die and fade away.”
With his legacy, how could he die? How can any of us who looked up to him as mentor and inspiration forget?
May the great Max Soliven, eternal mentor, rest in peace, finally.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/think-about-it/)
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