This is not an attempt to write about a man who I never got to know personally, but rather a brief subjective dissertation on what reading his column in the Daily Star has done to me.

Teodoro Benigno, the writer ‘par excellence’ struck me as a streetwise man of letters who was so much into Philippine Politics it is really surprising how he avoided being bitten by the Political Bug! His world revolved around the Who’s Who of Politics in a country where almost every breath that everybody takes is polluted with POLITICS! Friendships are made and broken, more often than not, because of politics! Teddyman clearly knew what he was wallowing in, and he LOVED IT!

Reading Teddy was indeed a brisk mental walk which I usually indulged in after that almost daily physical exercise which I have now grown to love! Over a stinging hot cup of Folger’s Decaf I would quickly scan through the sensationally boring headlines, sift to Teddy’s page and his catchy topic of the day, and start reading him just like a coroner dissects his cadavers! His English was impeccably smooth and flowing, just like a cascade of words that tended to lift you up, and then, oftentimes, bring you back down to earth, with the rat-tat-tat of angry words falling like fiery brimstone on the roof of some politicians’ hard heads! He had none of Max Soliven’s ‘sosmarioseps’ but he had a lot of guts when it came to writing about the TRUTH and the future of his BELOVED LAND!

Of course Teddy Benigno had evolved his own writing style just as we all have. I believe everyone IS a writer deep down inside. It only takes a lot of practice, patience, humility, and a ton of GUTS to brake into print! ‘Clear, Concise, and to the point’, was what we were always taught at the Ateneo! After a long and arduously WORDY journey into the deepest recesses of my brain, I have ALMOST perfected being able to compress a lot of meaning and thoughts into some well chosen words and sentences.

Teddyman stood way above us all when he wrote about the evils of a Philippine Society gone brazenly mad about POWER and MONEY! He was taken in by then President Cory Aquino but he lasted only a few months after having brushed elbows with the POWERBROKERS who moved about like little gods from Mt. Olympus! He must’ve also been riled by the Praise Releasing Butt Kissers who dreamt of someday being groomed to run for an elective position for free just because they were good at polishing and sometimes covering their political patron’s tracks!

Teddy Benigno had spent over 8 decades on this good earth when he was finally called to ‘cross the chasm’. He, no doubt, is now busy UP THERE debating and playing with his own repertoire of words with the likes of G.B. Shaw, Jean-Paul Sartre, Rudyard Kipling, John F. Kennedy, and maybe even Marx, Engels, and Mao Tse Tung! His PEN has rested, but it will NEVER RUN DRY!