Award-winning Cebuano journalist passes away
CEBU CITY—Respected Cebuano journalist and newspaper columnist Juan “Johnny” L. Mercado died from natural causes on Wednesday, July 16, at the age of 94.
His former colleagues in the Cebu media, including Cebu Citizens-Press Council (CCPC) Executive Director Pachico Seares confirmed this on a Facebook post on Friday.
The CCPC recalled that when Mercado was asked to write his occupation in his tax returns and other forms, he would always write “journalist.”
“The government has lost one taxpayer. Gone from the Cebu news media community, leaving a giant void, who is a truly respected and beloved colleague and dear friend,” wrote Seares on behalf of CCPC, Cebu NewsWorkers Foundation and Cebu Media Legal Aid.
Mercado who wrote a column for several years in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Cebu Daily News and SunStar Cebu, died peacefully and surrounded by his family, on his bed at home, according to Michelle So, former editor in chief of SunStar Cebu.
Mercado, whose 92-year-old wife just died last year, was cremated and the inurnment was done at Alliance of Two Hearts in Banawa, Cebu City on Friday at 10 am.
So said it was his wish to be cremated.
She recalled that when Mercado stopped writing for SunStar Cebu in December 2014, he no longer be contacted. However, on July 15, his former colleagues in the paper got to visit him at his residence in Barangay Banawa here after he asked his nurse to look for them.
The privilege of long life
He wanted to “touch base” with us—(that was his) term if he wanted to connect with any of us editors—(because he knew) any minute now he would be leaving his earthly life. So we went—me, Cherry Ann Lim, Nini Cabaero, lawyer Jane Paredes, and ex-newsroom assistant Rosa Yumol—to his house,” So said.
She said that by then, the bedridden Mercado could no longer talk.
According to her, they “brought a priest who anointed him.”
“The only thing I remember about him was at his 80th birthday (2010), at the reception. He spoke about the privilege of living a long life, not everyone was that fortunate,” recalled another Cebu-based columnist Marit Stinus-Cabugon.
Born on Aug. 26, 1930, Mercado spent decades as a journalist, starting as a reporter for now-defunct Southern Start in Cebu in the 1950s, earning him not just accolade for his work, but also a stint at the United Nations in New York.
Moreover, his opinion columns for the Inquirer and the other publications were constantly used by community newpapers and regional publications. He had received awards and recognitions, including “Journalist of the Year” given by the Manila Rotary Club in 1968; and numerous recognitions from the Cebu Archdiocesan Mass Media Awards and other award-giving bodies like the Society of Publishers in Asia.
He won the Globe Telecommunications’ Cebu Media Excellence Awards as “Columnist of the Year” in 2012; Outstanding Alumnus in Journalism honor by the University of San Carlos; “Garbo sa Sugbo” plaque given by the Province of Cebu, among others.
