An archetypal swashbuckler, rambunctious to a point, an uncanny
nose for news, hard drinker but hardworking, irreverent but with a sense of honor and justice.
Passionately in love with his craft.
If this would be the epitaph on Ruben’s tombstone, it might as well be for those breed of journalists (to which he belonged and a few are remaining) who now are considered “endangered species “.
With Ruben’s passing, there is now a void in the community, shoes that has to be filled in to continue the unfinished or continuing search for truth, a mandate each and every men and women worth their salt to be called as journalists, are called upon.
When Ruben and a motley pioneer group that include Eddie Lee, Jun Cruz, Cres Vasquez, B.K Loo and others embarked on ATIN ITO as the first ever Toronto’s Filipino community newspaper,
it signalled the birth of community newspapering among Filipinos in this part of North America. And it came at a crucial time when
the Philippines were at the throes of a vicious dictatorship that was to impose a vise-grip hold on a nation for 20 years.
A story is told that the group splintered with Ruben putting up his now iconic Balita, later to become the biggest and most read community newspaper in this part of Canada.
As newspapering is not a cheap proposition. Aside from the long hours of news gathering, editing, rewriting, composing and eventually paste up work (no computers at that time so each page is painstakingly built from cut outs of news stories and photos glued together) , there is the business side of soliciting advertising money to finance your small operations, such as paying the printer and other expenses.
Unlike in regular newspaper companies with multi-million capital and printing equipment, community newspapers are a mom- and- pop endeavour fuelled only with passion, hard work and pure patience and perseverance.
If you were in a restaurant business, the community paper is a “turo-turo or a small carinderia “ and the financial returns are more often break even and small profits.
And yet, Ruben despite these struggles had fiercely and stubbornly
plodded on .
Faye Arellano, a veteran newshen, said her Ninong Ruben’s adrenalin rush is seeing every Balita issues come off the press .
“Its what keep him going and awake, despite long hours of deprived sleep and nights of drinks with friends “she said.
It was Faye and husband Nestor who invited me to write for Balita after brief stints with two community newspapers previously.
With Ruben’s accident that left him incapacitated, it was Tess
who took up the challenge of running the paper, despite her zero
experience in news publishing.
But it was the uninitiated Tess Cusipag who took Balita to greater
heights and what is now today. Mainly with the help and inspiration from Ruben, She started collecting outstanding
advertising revenues which her husband failed to collect because of the accident and from there infused more fresh capital to the newspaper and voila, the dividends paid off.
Editorial-wise, despite losing his speech much more write
or edit stories, Ruben has guided Tess running Balita and with good results. How he did we don’t know but ,perhaps through sign language and the familiar grunts or his trademark thumbs-up sign.
When the Philippine Press Club of Ontario (PPCO) was founded, Ruben and Tess were one of the original incorporators and despite his physical disabilities, Ruben has never skipped any regular meetings or events except when he was feeling indisposed.
Aware of this rare proactive stance , during my tenure as president of the PPCO, I recommended that he be declared as a lifetime member of the club as our modest way of honouring him and acknowledging his role in the community as the “Dean of Community Journalism “in the Filipino community.
Because of his contributions in this field, it is my belief that
a “Ruben Cusipag Award of Excellence in Community journalism “ should be established as a fitting honor to his body of work and to his memory.
I and my colleagues in the media are willing to sit down with any organizations or person who may be interested to support such proposal.
Ruben’s involvement with the community did not stop at journalism but in other endeavors, He was a avid supporter of the famous Fiesta Filipina Dance troupe and other numerous community involvements of which he used to be part of before the accident.
*****30 *****
Iconic One Pro Theme | Powered by Wordpress