Ding Gagelonia and Filipino Voices Friends: Bloggers and Nationalists all

Ding Gagelonia with fellow bloggers

When I met Ding Gagelonia after a decade or so of absence, we reunited through the Internet. I remember Nick Cugtas, founder of Filipino Voices making it happen.


He was surprised to find out that Patricio Mangubat happened to be this frail writer from U.P. Diliman who does not smoke and who always lug a napsack. That same PM was actually Richard Rivera, who left DZBB to teach and take his Masterals.


That PM was both a teacher (teaching History to a bunch of kids at UP-Manila) and a student of journalism. I was very young then, barely out of University and making sense of the real world. I took a real fancy of journalism because that was my job. Eventually, that job became a profession and an obsession.


Now, I'm several pounds heavier and Ding several pounds less.In his prime, Ding was more than 200 pounds I think. After his stroke, Ding lost several pounds. That's why when I met him again, he was probably a little off my own weight.


This is our picture, together with fellow political bloggers. Now that the Filipino Voices site is gone, the connection slowly diminished. That site became our Plaza Miranda. For reasons only a few people know and I dein say here, the voices just suddenly became quiet. 


I was planning to revive a site like Filipino Voices. I was actually thinking of calling Ding and Dean dela Paz. This never materialized. I was so busy. 


This, for me, is a real tragedy. I lost Filipino Voices and I lost the only rationale voice there, Ding Gagelonia. Filipino blogging will never be the same again.