Online journalism pioneer Alecks Pabico dies
10/07/2009 | 08:02 PM
Alecks Pabico, a journalist who helped turn the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) into an early and leading online source for in-depth news, died Wednesday afternoon. He was 42.
Pabico was diagnosed with liver cancer last year and opted for alternative, homeopathic treatment. He was brought to St. Luke's Hospital Wednesday morning after contracting an infection.
For more than a decade and until his illness forced him to stop working, Pabico worked at the PCIJ and played an instrumental role in bringing the ground-breaking journalism institution into the Internet age.
"Alecks was a pioneer in the art and science of multimedia journalism in the Philippines," said Malou Mangahas, PCIJ's executive director and a PCIJ co-founder.
Pabico helped set up the the PCIJ's web site, which hosted the nation's first journalism group blog and later podcast the "Hello Garci" tapes of President Gloria Arroyo talking to various officials about manipulating the 2004 elections. Last year, Pabico won a Developing Asia journalism award from the Asian Development Bank for a report he wrote on governance in Naga City. Other links to PCIJ articles he wrote here.
In a tribute on her Facebook page, Sheila Coronel, the PCIJ’s founding executive director and now a journalism professor at Columbia University, wrote: “Alecks was an activist while at UP and held strong political views yet he had such an open mind and such a store of compassion in his being that he always connected with people and tried to understand them the way they understood themselves."
In addition to his multimedia skills, Pabico was a prolific writer with a sardonic wit. In one memorable piece, he reflected on being the lone male in his household and in his work place:
When all seems too unbearable in the land of women, there are enduring standards for male behavior that men can always resort to: strength and silence. I, however, take more to the latter. Not because I am a stereotypical man of few words. It’s just that women find it annoying.
Pabico was editor-in-chief in 1991-1992 of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Pabico was a fan of the late reggae artist Bob Marley. A benefit dinner last week that gathered his friends from college and journalism was entitled One Love, a well-known song by Marley.
Pabico is survived by wife Mira and two children, Marlee and Kaya. His wake will be at UP Diliman chapel starting Thursday. - GMANews.TV
Alecks Pabico's Facebook profile picture
For more than a decade and until his illness forced him to stop working, Pabico worked at the PCIJ and played an instrumental role in bringing the ground-breaking journalism institution into the Internet age.
"Alecks was a pioneer in the art and science of multimedia journalism in the Philippines," said Malou Mangahas, PCIJ's executive director and a PCIJ co-founder.
Pabico helped set up the the PCIJ's web site, which hosted the nation's first journalism group blog and later podcast the "Hello Garci" tapes of President Gloria Arroyo talking to various officials about manipulating the 2004 elections. Last year, Pabico won a Developing Asia journalism award from the Asian Development Bank for a report he wrote on governance in Naga City. Other links to PCIJ articles he wrote here.
In a tribute on her Facebook page, Sheila Coronel, the PCIJ’s founding executive director and now a journalism professor at Columbia University, wrote: “Alecks was an activist while at UP and held strong political views yet he had such an open mind and such a store of compassion in his being that he always connected with people and tried to understand them the way they understood themselves."
In addition to his multimedia skills, Pabico was a prolific writer with a sardonic wit. In one memorable piece, he reflected on being the lone male in his household and in his work place:
When all seems too unbearable in the land of women, there are enduring standards for male behavior that men can always resort to: strength and silence. I, however, take more to the latter. Not because I am a stereotypical man of few words. It’s just that women find it annoying.
Pabico was editor-in-chief in 1991-1992 of the Philippine Collegian, the student newspaper of the University of the Philippines Diliman.
Pabico was a fan of the late reggae artist Bob Marley. A benefit dinner last week that gathered his friends from college and journalism was entitled One Love, a well-known song by Marley.
Pabico is survived by wife Mira and two children, Marlee and Kaya. His wake will be at UP Diliman chapel starting Thursday. - GMANews.TV
