Gerry Gil's Creations
It has been 5 years since
the untimely demise of Gerry Gil; 16 years since he started anonymously
writing letters to the editor; and 13 years since he wrote the last known
letter included herein, having thus created within that 3 year period as
many as 40 personalities from over 350 letters, all during the interesting
time frame starting 2 years before the revolution that toppled strongman
Marcos of the Philippines and the chaotic months that followed.
This period of letter writing
preceeded his return to journalism, and taken together, can be viewed as
Gerry's great contribution to Philippine editorial writing: how his journalistic
forays and joustings in the political arena via the editorial page unmasked
the absurdities and banalities of the politics and powers-that-be of that
period, in a uniquely humorous and irreverent manner unmatched by any other
writer.
And Gerry was the creator
of form when history, humor and journalism intersected.
It is hoped that this website
will amply serve the students of recent Philippine political history, editorial
and communication writers, and humor-mongers like most of us.
Herein are majority of his
letters, scanned and retyped from the trove of hard-copy files found after
his death, or from his computer disk files. They are presented as
three sections: a selected list
of letters grouped as to common topics, the chronological
a list of all the letters, and a roster of the letter
writers themselves.
Author Jimmy Ong, in the
1997 book of Gerry's writings,
Wordsmith
With A Slingshot expounds on Gerry's letters to the
editor in his Introduction.
The book won the National Award
for Journalism A few samples
from the book are presented. Other
writings and obits are also
included in this website.
GERRY GIL
Website launched 8/20/00. Latest update 12/15/00
If you have comments or suggestions, email Danny Gil ferngil@aol.com
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