Philippines
Veteran journo Jose Jaime “Nonoy” Espina dies at 59
“…That the press is not free because it is allowed to be. It is free because it insists on being free.” – Nonoy Espina
Teodoro Alcuitas
Editor, philippinecanadiannews.com
One of the country’s fiercest fighter and loudest voices for press freedom died of liver cancer today July 7 (yesterday in the Philippines), his family announced through social media. He was 59. Jose Jaime ‘Nonoy’ Espina died peacefully at his home in Bacolod, Negros Occidental surrounded by his family, his sister Inday Espina-Varona, a veteran journalist herself, announced on social media.
Espina’s death came at a time when the Philippine press is facing unprecedented assaults on its freedom, coming on the heels of the signing into law of the draconian Anti-Terrorism Law by President Rodrigo Duterte last week.
He was until recently, head of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) who called him a “tireless champion for the freedom of the press and the welfare of media workers.”’
Espina “was also among the first responders at the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao in 2009,” said the NUJP, referring to the worst attack on Philippine media in the country’s history, where 32 journalists were killed when a powerful political clan ambushed the convoy of its rival who was on his way to file a certificate of candidacy.
At the tail end of his chairmanship, the NUJP led the campaign for justice for the 58 victims of the massacre up to the historic conviction in December 2019 for the principal suspects.
Espina was a musician known to journalists for his signature singing voice, ” but he was first and foremost a journalist,” said his sister Inday Espina- Varona.
Espina had been a journalist from high school to college, editing UP Visayas’ Pagbutlak. Espina was a recipient of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines or CEGP’s Marcelo H. Del Pilar Award, the highest honor of the guild.
“He was later part of community media group Correspondents, Broadcasters and Reporters Association—Action News Service, or COBRA-ANS, which was part of the “mosquito press” during the Marcos dictatorship,” said the NUJP.
He also served as editor for Inquirer.net.
“NUJP thanks him for his long years of service to the union and the profession and promises to honor him by protecting that prestige,” said the union.
“Nonoy leaves us with lessons and fond memories, as well as the words he often used in statements: That the press is not free because it is allowed to be. It is free because it insists on being free,” the NUJP said.