Ambassador Noel Cabrera, 64 Veronica Uy INQUIRER.net
April 09, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Philippine to Myanmar Ambassador Noel Cabrera died here early this morning after a brief illness, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced “with sadness” Thursday. He was 64.
“He represented and served his country and people with competence and distinction,” DFA spokesman Ed Malaya said in a text message.
A native of Taal, Batangas, Cabrera is survived by his wife Cecilia Maigue and their four children.
“DFA Secretary Alberto G. Romulo and the men and women of the foreign service convey their deepest condolences and prayers to Cecilia and the family of Ambassador Cabrera,” the DFA spokesman said.
In Myanmar, the late ambassador directed the country’s “constructive engagement with the military-led state and the cultivation of friendship with the Myanmarese people,” Malaya said.
He also served as Philippine ambassador to Romania
Before he joined government as press secretary in the Arroyo administration in 1998, Cabrera had been a practicing journalist. He was editor in chief and chief operating officer of the defunct Manila Chronicle from l993 to 1998.
According to the website of the Office of the Press Secretary, Cabrera started as special events reporter of the Philippines Daily Express. From 1976 to 1986, he moved up to become a deskman, columnist, chief editorial writer, editorial page editor, and assistant managing editor of the paper.
“Shortly before the first EDSA People Power in l986, he became the managing editor of the newly-revived Manila Times. After his brief stint at the Manila Times, he moved to the Manila Chronicle on the same year where he became the paper’s news editor and later as managing editor,” the OPS profile on Cabrera said.
From l989 to l993, the late journalist was columnist and editorial writer of the Manila Times, Philippines Newsday, and The Daily Globe.
Cabrera, who finished his AB in Journalism at the University of the Philippines in l969, received various awards. He was a grantee of the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for Journalists at the University of Michigan, USA, l982-l983. He was also a participant of the Nihon Shimbun Kyokai fellowship for journalists in Japan in l980 as a fellow of the Confederation of Asean Journalists.
He was also a Catholic Mass Media Awardee in l979.
