Cebu Daily News columnist Job Tabada (Straight Jab) expired yesterday at around 5 p.m. at the Cebu Doctors University Hospital after suffering from a heart attack midnight of November 18 while having coffee at a shop across the said hospital. He was 58.
He was rushed to the hospital by a doctor who was also having coffee in said shop. At the hospital, he was confined at the ICU after he went into a coma.
He is survived by his wife Anecita and his three children – Jobannie, Herald, and Free.
His wake will be at the Bradford Church along Osmeña Boulevard. Interment will be announced later. Tabada joined the said daily as a section editor in 1998, the year he retired early from RPN 9-Cebu after 20 years as a local and national correspondent where he was later promoted to news director. After his 10-year stint at CDN, he gave up his work for health reasons.
It was learned from his wife that he was suffering from diabetes and enlargement of the heart.
He held other journalism posts such as being the editor-in-chief of the Cebu Advocate and Morning Times; managing editor of the Visayan Herald; weekend editor and columnist of the Republic News; section editor of Sun.Star Daily; sports editor of Cebu Daily Times; correspondent of The FREEMAN; and stringer of the Philippine News Agency.
While working at one of the Cebu dailies, Tabada was commissioned to establish the Daily Guardian, the first daily newspaper in Cagayan de Oro City and northern Mindanao. He was also involved in the publication of a Surigao-based weekly paper, the Surigao Express, which was printed here.
As head of the publication department of the Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corporation in Toledo City, he was the editor-in-chief of its magazine and weekly newsletter.
Tabada started as a campus journalist at the Silliman University in Dumaguete City where he enrolled at the SU School of Journalism. He was photo editor and contributing writer of the university’s student organ, The Weekly Sillimanian.
He was among the students arrested when Martial Law was declared. After his release, Tabada enrolled at the Southwestern University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree and studied Law. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/MEEV (THE FREEMAN)