Go placidly, Danny

Entertainment journalist Danny Vibas was a friend.

He was more than a dear friend, actually.

And a classmate.

We were both alumni of the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Santo Tomas (UST).

I was a Literature major while he was a Journalism student.

As Lit and Journo majors, we were always fused in one class—including Philosophy students—at the time the prospects of employment of writers were bleak in a Martial Law era.

While Danny might be writing in English and I was in Filipino, we started showbiz reporting at the same time after he quit an advertising job.

When he decided to write in the vernacular, he sported a pen name, Rico E. Alegre to signify his pursuit of a rich and happy person which he, I think, in some ways failed to achieve although he would always feel joyful and moneyed to reflect on his thoughts he learned from the Temple of Love, Peace and Prosperity of his mentor, the late George Sison.

What enriched him was his teaching English, initially at the Central College of the Philippines (CCP) and later at the Far Eastern University (FEU) where, as he admitted it, was a terror as he often had altercations with owners of copies he mangled.

As a writer who spoke his mind openly, he was misunderstood by most members of the entertainment industry but I would always understand him as he would sometimes misunderstand me by throwing outbursts on me on a simple issue of writing. (Boy Villasanta)