JAIME “Jamil” Flores, a UST philosophy alumnus and former Varsitarian features editor, died on June 10 in Jakarta, Indonesia following cardiac arrest. He was 83.
His death was announced in a Facebook post by his daughter, Karen, and confirmed to the Varsitarian by his son, Percival.
“May Allah grant our Papa, Jamil Maidan Flores, eternal repose…He will be cremated immediately today following Indonesian Muslim regulations,” Karen’s Facebook post read.
Percival said his father was cremated on June 11, and his memorial services were being scheduled by diplomatic circles in Jakarta.
“For a while, I tried to control my emotions, but I couldn’t. I cried and sobbed while I was driving. After all, I am still my father’s son. I prayed that he finds his place in Paradise. Peace be upon him,” Percival wrote on social media.
Before he graduated from UST in 1961, Flores served as the Varsitarian features editor, joining the publication alongside the likes of statesman Franciso “Kit” Tatad and journalism doyenne Jullie Yap-Daza.
He later worked as assistant minister of the Ministry of Public Information and a speech writer for former Indonesian Diplomats Ali Alatas and Hassan Wirajuda.
During his time at the ministry, he produced influential diplomatic works such as ASEAN Economic Cooperation: Helping the Breadwinners of Southeast Asia (1999), ASEAN Functional Cooperation: Toward a Caring Community (2000), and ASEAN: How It Works (2000), which helped shape public understanding of regional collaboration.
He also served as a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia, where he mentored young staff and interns in letter writing and speech writing.
As a writer, Flores authored several notable works such as “Lessons Learned (2019),” which revisited the 1990s to examine the complex relationship between the Philippine government and the Moro National Liberation Front. He co-authored “Where There Are No Slaves” in 1990.
