Nick Joaquin, 86: Passing of an era

National artist for literature Nick Joaquin died yesterday morning in his home in San Juan. He was 86.

Joaquin’s sister, Tina Joaquin-Erum, said the cause of death was cardiac arrest. He had just sent out an assistant to buy the morning papers and breakfast was waiting at his bedside on PR Sotto street.

His death came after one final beer and less than a week before his 87th birthday on May 4. Internet engines though listed his birthday as Sept. 15, which may have been Joaquin’s last attempt to confound biographers.

As a poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, essayist, historian, journalist, editor and biographer, Joaquin has been the supreme exemplar for Filipino writers, as much as he was a beacon, an inspiration, and a literary father to several generations of writers since he served as literary editor of the Philippines Free Press magazine in the 1950s and 1960s.

Perhaps Joaquin’s best known work is the play "A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino: An Elegy in Three Scenes," which has been performed anywhere from Intramuros by professional thespians to university theaters for school productions and later even made into a movie.

Just last March, Anvil Publishing launched at the Cultural Center of the Philippines new editions of three of his books, his second novel "Cave and Shadows," the short fiction collection "Tropical Gothic," and the non-fiction "Culture and History."

There Joaquin last spoke publicly, in characteristic jest, before retiring to his favorite Ermita bar with fellow writer Gregorio Brillantes and his business manager and confidante Billy Lacaba.

At the time another close friend and writer Wilfrido Nolledo had just passed away in Panorama City, California, and Joaquin had ribbed Lacaba to help him prepare his will.

Joaquin was also known for his love of San Miguel beer, his booming voice and his joy in belting out Cole Porter and Frank Sinatra songs during intimate gatherings with friends in favorite bars and cafes.

"You’re the top!" he’d sing to bosom buddy Virginia Moreno.

Quijano De Paco

Nicomedes Joaquin was born in 1917 in Paco, Manila, to Salome Marquez, a public school teacher, and Leocadio Joaquin, a colonel in the Philippine Revolution of 1896. According to literary historian Gemino Abad, Leocadio Joaquin became "a prominent lawyer in the American era; and the businessman who first turned Herran street (now Pedro Gil) into the commercial hub of Paco."

"Onching" Joaquin was only 13 when his father passed away. He quit school after three years at Mapa High, and taught himself in his father’s library. At 26 he wrote the essay "La Naval de Manila" which won a contest at UST, where, again per Abad, "for his literary achievements, he was conferred the AA (Associate in Arts) certificate."

In the book "The National Artists of the Philippines" (CCP, NCCA, Anvil 1998), Marra Pl. Lanot recounts that "The Philippines Free Press citation for best short story went to (Joaquin’s) ‘Summer Solstice’ in 1945 (and) to ‘Guardia de Honor’ in 1949."

"Summer Solstice" recently was adapted into a movie by filmmaker Tikoy Aguiluz.

Joaquin aspired for the priesthood, and UST awarded him a scholarship in 1949 to St. Albert’s College at the Dominican monastery in Hong Kong. But he stayed there for only a year, and upon his return joined the Philippines Free Press in 1950, starting out as a proofreader. Soon he was being acclaimed for his poems, stories and plays, as well as for his journalism under the pseudonym Quijano de Manila.

Lanot writes: "As Quijano (the name is an anagram of Joaquin), he would be found at the scene of a crime, in a court battle, on the trail of a visiting dignitary, in a concert hall, in the middle of a political rally, in a boxing ring. anywhere he could hear, see and smell first-hand the subject of his article."

In 1952, Joaquin’s landmark book, "Prose and Poems," was published by Manila Graphic House, with an introduction by Teodoro M. Locsin. It included the play "A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino," which first appeared in Weekly Women’s Magazine earlier that year.

Since its first production at the Aurora Gardens in Intramuros in 1955, "Portrait..."(subsequently translated into Filipino, initially for a long-running PETA production in 1969) has become the most celebrated and most frequently staged play written by a Filipino.

Among the early honors Joaquin gained were: Most Outstanding Young Man in Literature in 1955; the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1961; and the City of Manila’s Patnubay ng Sining at Kalinangan Award in 1964.

Joaquin’s first novel, "The Woman Who Had Two Navels," was written on a Harper Publishing Co. fellowship awarded in 1957, which took him to the United States and Mexico. The book was published in 1962, and won the first Harry Stonehill Novel Award.

Joaquin was declared a national artist in 1976 under the regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. The story was that Joaquin would accept the award under the condition that a friend from the Free Press days, the poet and journalist Jose "Pete" Lacaba, be released from political detention.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award for journalism, literature and creative communication was conferred to Joaquin in 1996 "...for exploring the mysteries of the Filipino body and soul in sixty inspired years as a writer."

STAR columnist Alejandro Roces, himself a national artist, commented at the time that "it was Nick Joaquin who was doing the Ramon Magsaysay Awards an honor, and not the other way around," according to Lanot.

In recent years, Joaquin took to writing commissioned biographies, among these "The Aquinos of Tarlac"; "Jaime Ongpin The Enigma"; "A Profile of a Filipino as Manager"; "Mr. FEU: The Culture Hero That was Nicanor Reyes"; "Nineteenth Century Manila"; "The World of Damian Domingo"; and "La Orosa: The Dance Drama that is Leonor Goquinco."

Among his latest titles were "Rizal in Saga"; "Palacio de Malacañan: 200 Years of a Ruling House"; and "Madame Excelsis: Historying Gloria Macapagal Arroyo."

He published his last fiction, "Bat Lake," a novella in four parts from December 2002 to January 2003 in Philippine Graphic magazine.

Joaquin was known to be working on a biography of a business tycoon before his demise, which his countless admirers have begun to acknowledge as "the passing of an era."

A special Mass was held yesterday at 6 p.m. at Funeraria Paz on Araneta Avenue, Quezon City, followed by cremation. The wake begins this evening at the Santuario de San Antonio at Forbes Park, while special necrological rites for the national artist are to be held Sunday at the CCP, before interment of the writer’s ashes before noon at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

National Treasure

"He was a national treasure. He engaged life with the same passion he gave his art," Ambassador to Laos Antonio Cabangon-Chua, owner of the Philipine Graphic, said yesterday of the death of the magazine’s corporate editor in chief. "He is irreplaceable."

Recah Trinidad, a long time buddy, paraphrased one of the national artist’s favorite songs, saying "there will never be another Nick Joaquin."

STAR columnist Isagani Cruz admired Joaquin’s humility, while writer Clinton Palanca said the death was "a great loss."

Cesar Ruiz Aquino recalled first meeting the kumpares Joaquin and Franz Arcellana in April 42 years ago, during the first national writers workshop in Dumaguete City.

Painter Danny Dalena was speechless in his grief, and could only text: "Beer para kay Nick!"

"His works will remain forever. They will continue to inspire readers," said CCP vice president and artistic director Fernando Josef, adding Joaquin’s selflessness was one reason young writers looked up to him.

Joaquin had fought to restore Graphic magazine’s literary section, which was revived in August 2003.

"He fought for that. He was very happy when we finally got approval for a return of fiction and poetry to Graphic’s pages. He said it meant the world was civilized after all," recalled Inday Espina-Varona, the magazine’s editorial director.

"To the end he pushed the borders of literature," said managing editor Marianne Carandang. "He was always current; he had his hand on the pulse of life. He timed the pieces according to the seasons and was aggressive in his choices. He never wanted to hide the sensuality, the sexuality and passions of different writers. He affirmed writers on a wide variety of themes."

Joaquin, Carandang said, displayed cutting-edge form in the past months, selecting stories that tackled a variety of subjects ranging from adultery to job-hunting.

The staff sent Joaquin the latest batch of literary submissions last Tuesday, and had not noted any ailment in the man.

Jojo Sumarago, a long-time assistant, said Joaquin was well enough to tour his niece, Charo Villegas, around Intramuros last Friday.

But on Monday he was "a bit quiet, and only wanted fruits and buko juice." Villegas had offered to take him to hospital, but he refused, saying he was well.

Joaquin however continued to bustle around the house, took showers, and worked.

By Wednesday, for the first time Joaquin failed to take a shower.

"He rarely spoke. He just sat there and read, and drank beer," Sumarago said. Even then, the bottle was only half consumed.

Yesterday Joaquin woke up at dawn and asked Sumarago to buy his daily supply of newspapers.

"I gave him the newspapers around 6 a.m. We talked briefly but I had a hard time understanding him," said Sumarago.

Sumarago said he left Joaquin for a few minutes to prepare the writer’s breakfast. "When I came back he was sleeping but breathing. I left the breakfast tray and went down. After five to ten minutes, I went back. He wasn’t breathing anymore." — With Katherine Adraneda, Edu Punay