Senate pays tribute to T.M. Locsin

Calling him a "genuine patriot," an "intellectual giant" and an ideal "journalist and writer," the Philippine Senate named yesterday its media and public information center after Teodoro M. Locsin Sr., founder of the Philippines Free Press who fought the Japanese invasion and Marcos’ martial law.

In rites presided over by Senate President Franklin Drilon, the Senate unveiled the marker naming the facilities of the Public Information and Media Relations Office (PIMRO) the "Teodoro M. Locsin Sr. Room" in honor of the journalist who died two years ago and was buried with honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In attendance at the rites were the honoree’s son and namesake, Rep. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. of Makati; Sen. Blas Ople, who originally authored in year 2000 (joined by former Sen. Francisco Tatad and Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, and later, all the other senators who signed up as co-authors) the resolution naming the media center after Locsin Sr.; Sen. Juan Flavier, former Free Press writers and editors, and members of the Locsin family.

In his speech before the unveiling, Drilon said "naming the Senate press room after this great man is aimed at perpetuating his memory and legacy." "This, he added, is the Senate’s way of "recognizing the uncommon valor that Teodoro M. Locsin Sr. had shown in his lifetime."

This tribute, Drilon said, "may not even come close to the kind of recognition that must be bestowed on him for his valuable contribution, first as a guerrilla in the Resistance Movement, and subsequently as a crusading journalist and "valiant defender of human rights and freedom before and during the darkest days of Martial Law."

Ople, recalling how Locsin Sr. was jailed at the declaration of martial law and how he later rejected Ferdinand Marcos’ blandishments to lure him into publishing again under martial rule, said "the silence of T.M. Locsin Sr. was deafening, eloquent."

He expressed hope that naming the Senate press office after Locsin Sr. would "help everyone engaged in the profession of journalism and literature to aspire to the heights of excellence in this field and, like him, turn into a nemesis of mediocrity, sloppy journalism, laxity or corruption."

Accepting the honor in behalf of his family, Rep. Locsin Jr. provided a little-known but interesting historical vignette: he said it was his father who suggested to Mr. Marcos, before martial law, to tap Francisco Tatad as press secretary when Marcos asked Locsin Sr. if he could hire his son. "Senator Tatad may not know it, but he has repaid my father for what he did to him at the start of his career."

Locsin Jr. said his father would have cherished the honor bestowed on him by the senators yesterday, as "he loved the Republic" and "couldn’t conceive of a life separate from the Republic, of which the Senate was the greatest symbol." – Aurea Calica