Sir Jake

At Malaya’s Christmas party last Dec. 14, Sir Jake’s eyes lighted up while telling me that the Batuan fruit tree that I gave him many years ago that he planted in his farm in Lipa has been bearing fruit nonstop.

He complained, however, that he can’t seem to grow seedlings from the fruits and asked me to bring him another seedling.

I got him one when I went home to Antique for the holidays and was supposed to give it to him next week when I go to Malaya’s office.

Yesterday, I was shocked to learn that he has passed away.

Ma’am Karen, Sir Jake’s wife, posted this in Facebook:

“Amado ‘Jake’ P. Macasaet peacefully was brought home by his Creator God at 8:35 am, January 7, 2018 surrounded by his family.

“Thank you for your concern. Today (Sunday, January 7, 2018) will be reserved for immediate family. We thank you in advance for understanding our desire to spend the day with Papa. We will announce the schedule of his wake in Heritage Park, Fort Bonifacio immediately. Thank you.”

One of the reasons I have stayed with Malaya since I joined it in 1983 was Sir Jake, who took over the ownership and management of Malaya from Jose Burgos Jr. after the 1986 People Power Revolution that ended the Marcos dictatorship.

Before he bought Malaya, Sir Jake was the paper’s business editor. He had been a business writer of the Roces-owned Manila Times before Marcos closed it down when he declared martial law on Sept. 22, 1972.

A major change Sir Jake introduced upon taking over Malaya was to make it a “regular” newspaper.

Malaya was founded during “abnormal times” when the country was under the Marcos dictatorship. It was an “alternative newspaper,” publishing reports that were not touched by the government-controlled mainstream media,” and bore the “leftist” tag.

Malaya’s makeover disappointed a number of people, but Sir Jake, who has never been known for diplomatic language, would say, “If there’s money in communism, I’ll go into it.”

His being a journalist made a lot of difference in the way he ran a newspaper compared to those owned and managed by capitalists.

For one, he was fiercely protective of journalistic independence. I know that first hand. A government official I was covering once complained to Sir Jake about my coverage and wanted me pulled out of the beat. He bluntly told the official that Malaya’s policy on beat assignments didn’t include securing the approval of offices and officials its reporters cover.

Sir Jake loved good food and we benefited from the fact that he needed company to indulge in this.

He liked to think that he was an expert in Chinese dishes and would jokingly and affectionately scold Tsinoy journalists Jullie Yap and Yvonne Chua for not knowing to order the best Chinese dish whenever we ate out.

For all his tough talk, Sir Jake was a softie. He couldn’t refuse anybody who asked for help, financial (a child’s tuition or a family member’s hospitalization) or otherwise.

And he offered help even when he wasn’t asked. When I was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, Sir Jake reassured me: “You pray, I pay.” During one of my chemotherapy sessions, he personally delivered the money for my medicine at the Philippine General Hospital where I was confined.

They don’t make publishers like Jake Macasaet anymore.