Amadis Ma. Guerrero, a veteran journalist and fictionist, died on May 13. He was 85.
His passing was confirmed by his cousin, Luisa Guerrero Nakpil, in a Facebook post.
“Amadis was perhaps the gentlest, sweetest of the Guerreros who were notorious for their short fuses and wicked, razor-sharp tongues,” she said.
Guerrero was the grandson of Fernando María Guerrero, regarded as one of the greatest Filipino poets in Spanish alongside Francisco Balagtas and Cecilio Apostol.
Guerrero was a nephew of renowned writer and journalist Carmen Guerrero Nakpil, whose essays and memoirs chronicled the complexities of Filipino identity and nationhood.
Noli Guerrero, one of Guerrero’s closest companions, said he wanted to remember Amadis through the stage presentations and productions they had mounted in the cafes or restaurants in Baler, where they first met in 2009.
“[He is] someone who is a quiet, sensitive and profoundly hard worker,” Noli told the Varsitarian.
Theater actor Vince Tañada, wrote in a post on social media: “His voice as a fictionist and journalist enriched Philippine literature, while his dedication to culture and the arts inspired countless readers, writers, and artists.”
“I will gladly say it again here — he was truly one magnificent writer,” Anthony John Balisi, an anthropologist and former director of the National Book Development Board, said in an interview with the Varsitarian.
Guerrero earned his bachelor’s degree in English and history from the University in 1960, before embarking on a stint in the journalism and publication industry.
He worked for seven years as a staff member at the Manila bureau of the Associated Press and later at the country’s longest-running magazine, the Philippines Graphic.
Throughout the years, he contributed to the arts and culture section of two of the country’s most widely circulated newspapers, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and The Philippine Star.
A wake was held on May 17 at the Santuario de San Antonio’s Capilla de San Francisco at Forbes Park, Makati. Inurnment was held the next day, on May 18.
