Danilo Gonzales, one of the few old guards of Visayan media
Danilo "Danny" Gonzales was born on December 1, 1940. Danny was the son of Spouses Catalino Gonzales and Eustolia Montejo. During his lifetime he was one of the pillars of the Visayan Media. He was news director of DYHP (of the Radio Mindanao Network) from 1965 to 1967.
Incidentally, DYHP is the only station in the Visayas and Mindanao that has lawyers as station managers. Presently its manager is lawyer Ruphil F. Banoc (admitted to the Bar on July 12, 2007), of Baybay, Leyte, he anchors the station's primetime program "Straight to the Point." He also anchors the news program of Cebu Catholic Television Network (Channel 47) SAYRI 47 with fellow lawyer, Divine Marcial Flores (former news director of DYRF and hosts a legal advice program in DYRC and writes a column in Banat News, the Cebuano tabloid of The Freeman). lawyer Banoc succeeded lawyer Cynthia L. Barte (admitted to the Bar on May 5, 1982), who became chairman of the KBP-Cebu (lawyer Banoc also became chairman of KBP-Cebu).
Danny, for decades, became a columnist of the Morning Times and Visayan Herald, an opposition or Anti Martial Law newspaper outside Manila (from 1971 to 2002). While writing for the newspaper, he remained with the broadcast industry as commentator of DYLA with lawyer Migz Enriquez (Miguel A. Enriquez Jr. of Carcar, Cebu became a lawyer on March 3, 1960) and Alejandro "Al" Alinsug (of The Visayan Herald). The Morning Times was one of Cebu's longest running newspapers (from 1943 to 1986). It was founded by Pedro D. Calomarde. A street in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City formerly called as Mariposa has been renamed after "Calomarde" by virtue of City Ordinance No. 1925 enacted by the Cebu City Council on December 18, 2001.
Danny was also editor of the "Cebu Advocate," a regional newspaper in Central Visayas that had its office at Padilla Street, Cebu City and was correspondent of national newspapers. He was also editor of PICOP of Bislig Bay Lumber Company in Surigao del Sur from 1967 to 1971.
The man who later became a guardian of the Visayan media honed his writing skills in campus journalism. He was president of the student council of Southwestern University and editor of the school organ "D Quill." Danny finished Bachelor of Laws at the University of the Visayas but spent his first few years at the University of San Carlos.
Danny, when he enrolled in the College of Medicine in SWU, became editor of the school organ, THE PULSE. During the martial law years, he helped the leaders of the opposition of Cebu, led by lawyer Antonio V. Cuenco and Inday Nenita Cortez Daluz, who were also in the radio industry. Danny was media consultant to several politicians in Cebu among them Antonio V. Cuenco, who became congressman after the EDSA Revolution in 1986. Danny helped the Liberal Party in 1998 when Senator Sergio "Serge" dela Rama Osmena III ran as vice president of Alfredo Lim.
Danny retired from media and went to the United States of America. He died on April 12, 2007 in Garden Grove, California and is buried in All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach, California, USA.
Danny is survived by his wife, Teresita Acenas Gonzales. His children are Mary Grace (who married an Hernandez), Faith (who married a Baron) was a musical and theater figure of the University of San Jose Recoletos in the late 80's under the tutelage of Madam Milagros Espina, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. It was when Espina was Dean of CAS that the school opened the course, Mass Communication few years before EDSA. Faith went to high school at the Colegio de la Inmaculada Conception. Danny has an only son, his Junior, then the youngest, Pearl, who married a lawyer and a politician, Jonnah John B. Ungab, presently vice mayor of Ronda, Cebu.
During the Diamond Anniversary celebration in 2012 of the Cebu City Charter, 75 families were given the award "75 Cebuano Families of Distinction," among them was the GONZALES.
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