VETERAN journalist and author Joel Pablo Salud succumbed to a heart attack on March 19. He was 62.
His wife, Che Sarigumba, confirmed his death to Rappler, where he worked as a senior desk editor during the 2022 Philippine presidential elections.
Following a heart attack on Sunday morning, Salud underwent a medical procedure in a private hospital in Las Piñas.
In an online tribute, Inday Espina-Varona, former Philippine Graphic editor in chief, described Salud as a “voracious reader” and a “team player,” recalling his perseverance amid challenges.
“I was at a fellowship and left him at the helm of Graphic. He felt people were disrespecting him, not taking him seriously, conspiring to ease him out. He wanted to walk. I told him to stay put, calm down, not let them win,” the post read.
“He stayed and persevered until he was officially promoted to editor in chief. ‘Choose your battles’ became a slogan. He learned that one well,” it added.
Salud served as the editor in chief of Philippine Graphic, one of the country’s longest-running political and literary publications, for 11 years.
Salud studied psychology at UST and started his journalism career at the Manila Standard and The Manila Times.
He also wrote columns for LiCAS News Philippines and PhilStar Life and contributed Christian essays to San Anselmo Press as part of the Christian Writers’ Fellowship.
He was a member of the board of PEN Philippines and chaired the Writers in Prison Committee of the Philippine Center of International PEN in 2022.
Salud served as juror in various writing awards such as the Varsitarian’s 10th National Campus Journalism Awards, Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Nick Joaquin Literary Awards, F. Sionil Jose Writer’s Prize, and the National Book Awards.
He was the keynote speaker in the 23rd Inkblots, an annual campus journalism fellowship organized by the Varsitarian.
Salud authored over 15 books, including “View from the Foxhole: Shaping the Political into the Personal” which won the Hilarion and Esther Vibal Prize for Best Book in Journalism at the 42nd National Book Awards in 2024.
Details regarding his wake and internment have yet to be announced.
