Malaya publisher Amado ‘Jake’ Macasaet, 83

MALAYA PUBLISHER and veteran business journalist Amado P. Macasaet passed away on Sunday morning, Jan. 7, at the age of 83.

Mr. Macasaet was “peacefully brought home by his Creator God at 8: 35 am, Jan. 7, 2018, surrounded by his family,” his wife, Karen, said in a post on social media.

Born on Aug. 9, 1936, Mr. Macasaet was a schoolmate of the late journalist and freedom fighter Jose G. Burgos, Jr. at the University of Santo Tomas. He began his journalism career before martial law, and later joined Mr. Burgos in the pioneering newspaper Malaya, a leading champion of press freedom that confronted the Marcos dictatorship before its present distinction as a business paper.

Mr. Macasaet started as a columnist for Malaya and soon became its associate publisher, working in tandem with the newspaper’s publisher, Mr. Burgos. In the post-Marcos era, Mr. Macasaet took over the helm as publisher, with Mr. Burgos retiring to farming.

Mr. Macasaet also headed the Philippine Press Institute, alternately leading this institution with the late Philippine Daily Inquirer publisher Isagani M. Yambot and the late BusinessWorld publisher Raul L. Locsin, among others.

interaksyon. com managing editor Lourdes Molina- Fernandez, who worked with Messrs. Burgos and Macasaet as editor-in-chief of Malaya, remembers Mr. Macasaet as “a typical journalist, irascible, calls a spade a spade and known to be very frank, doesn’t pull punches.” She also fondly recalls him as having “many wacky moments.”

Mrs. Macasaet, in her post as of Sunday afternoon, said, “We will announce the schedule of his wake in Heritage Park, Fort Bonifacio immediately.”