KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews / 29 October) – Veteran journalist Rommel Gaoiran Rebollido of General Santos City passed away before dawn Tuesday, October 29. He was 67.
Rebollido, fondly called Mel, had been reporting about Mindanao since the 1970s, covering the peace processes of the Moro liberation fronts, human rights, business, culture, indigenous peoples, natural disasters and the environment, among others.
His daughter Ramielle announced Rebollido’s passing in her Facebook post at 11:49 a.m. on Tuesday.
“To those who knew him, Papa was a beacon of strength, wisdom, and unconditional love. His warmth and kindness touched countless lives, and his memory will forever remain a blessing to all of us,” she said.
“To our dearest Papa – thank you for all the love, sacrifices, and the beautiful memories. You will be deeply missed and forever loved,” she added.
Rebollido wrote for MindaNews and Rappler before he died.
He was rushed to the Sarangani Bay Specialists Medical Center, Inc. at around 2 a.m. where doctors tried to revive him. He succumbed to cardiac arrest.
At 6 p.m. on Monday, he posted a photograph of himself in a pensive mood, with this caption: “I just want to look like myself. Not older, not younger. Just myself, the one that I know.”
His last Facebook post was at 10:04 p.m. with a note: As we retire for the night, don’t just pray, ponder on this,” accompanying a quote from Bill Bullard: “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge … is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”
Rebollido’s last article for MindaNews, published on Monday, was on the burial practices of the Tboli and Blaan, “Traditional Tboli and Blaan burial rituals now practiced only in remote areas.”
His last two photos published also on Monday were on one of the 40 hardwood tree species felled to give way to the highway’s expansion (Tree No More) and flower vendors in their makeshift stalls near a memorial park (Early Birds).
Colleagues mourned Rebollido’s demise. Some of them recounted his work as well as his humane side.
“Mindanao lost one of its best storytellers,” said MindaNews reporter Froilan Gallardo, a close friend of Rebollido for decades.
In his Facebook post, the Cagayan de Oro City-based Gallardo wrote: “If there is anything else to crow about, it is that Rommel was one of the best journalists in Mindanao. His stories reveal the intricacies of the indigenous people and their struggle against mining, the struggle for a just Bangsamoro homeland.”
Dennis Jay Santos, a Dabawenyo who contributes to Rappler, remembers Rebollido “as a good family man and a good friend to many of us.”
“What an inspiration to see your posts of your family and what a good father you were to your children. (The) memories with you is what we will cherish. A highly principled guy and one who never cowed down to the great travails of life that had come (his) way,” Santos wrote on Facebook.
Rebollido had been a widower for eight years after his second wife Gemma died of cancer.
Last September 18, a day after he turned 67, Rebollido wrote a “grateful to life” post.
“Yesterday, 17 September, gave me a chance to look back and realize how far I have covered in life…Yesterday allowed me to see how fortunate of me to be still around, despite the numerous challenges – including dodging life threatening events several times, survived an ambush twice and an unknown ailment that put me weeks in a hospital until I escaped,” he posted.
“I have gone quite a distance at 67 years and am pretty much happy with my life, a roller coaster adventure of challenges and opportunities, laughter and tears. Not all are lucky to cover the distance,” he added.
Rebollido finished AB English at the St. Peter College in Iligan City. He completed a Diploma in Photojournalism developed jointly by the Asian Center for Journalism and the World Press Photo when he was the Philippine News Agency bureau chief in General Santos City in 2009.
He was among those selected in 2021 for the inaugural Aries Rufo Journalism Fellowship, an ongoing project of Rappler in collaboration with the Journalism for Nation Building Foundation.
Rebollido started his journalism career as a photojournalist in Cotabato City for the defunct Department of Public Information in 1979, moved to the Philippine Information Agency in Iligan City from 1987 to 1993, then to the Philippine News Agency (PNA) in Cotabato City from 1993 to 1996 and PNA in General Santos City from 1997 to 2010, Brigada from 2012 to 2019, Rappler from 2021 and MindaNews from 2020.
Before 2010, he also contributed stories and photos to the defunct Mindanao Kris and SunStar General Santos City, Malaya, GMA News TV, Union of Catholic Asian News, Japan Broadcasting Corp. and Associated Press, among others.
Rebollido, who has Ilocano roots, was born in Pandacan, Manila but grew up in Cotabato City after his soldier-father was assigned in Mindanao.
He is survived by children Anneluz Ramielle, Kristiane Rommel, Tristan Fauntle Roy, Grazielle Bituin, Gerome, Guia, Golda and Gio.
The last four siblings are all still studying in different levels. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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