Domingo M. Estabaya, the Visayanian Chronicler

The University of the Visayas, formerly called the Visayan Institute (the name it carried from 1919 to 1948) founded in 1919 by Don Vicente Gullas, the brother of Don Paulino Gullas, the founder of The FREEMAN, has produced outstanding writers even up to now, and one of them was Domingo Estabaya.

In Cebu, to include Mindanao, editors and writers of newspapers for the past decades are alumni of the University of the Visayas. The FREEMAN and the other papers are and were managed by Visayanians.

Estabaya was born on May 25, 1915 in Cebu. He finished his secondary education at the Cebu High School (now Andres Abellana National School) and college at the University of the Visayas. He excelled in writing poems, stories, and articles both in Cebuano and English. During his lifetime he was conferred the Most Outstanding Alumnus of the University of the Visayas. For his Master's Degree, Estabaya had the thesis "An Historical Survey of the Publishing Business in Cebu" written in 1969.

Estabaya served as President of the LUDABI (Lubas sa Dagang Bisaya) from 1959 to 1961. He worked at the United States Information Service (USIS). Another famous Cebuano newscaster and writer who worked with USIS was Jess Vestil who was born on July 8, 1929 and died on August 7, 2006. It was Vestil who wrote the Cebuano version of the Philippine national anthem, "Yutang Tabunon."

Estabaya also worked in the academe having been the Dean of the Roosevelt Memorial Colleges in Bogo, one of northern Cebu's longest existing colleges (established in 1947). Estabaya also wrote for The FREEMAN, scribbling for Cebuano history on streets and other aspects. Estabaya's article on history continues to be the source of today's historians. Estabaya became part of the Cebu Arts Council and the Association of Cebu Journalists. He was correspondent of the Liwayway Publications, Inc., it is the precursor of the nationally circulated magazine in Cebuano named "Bisaya." He used the pen name, Esteban M. David.