He made an impression in '76 on this fledgling reporter not quite out of college but with stardust dreams of writing. My first boss, Tere Orendain, and Jorge Arago were chums and they'd go out for the occasional long lunch with another journalist Marita Manuel, then detailed at Mrs. Marcos's office.
It was his slippers that did it for me--this diminutive man who went to work and socials in them slippers and the most casual of clothes at a time when I was getting used to proper office shoes and would get the occasional reprimand from Tere to please stop wearing hand me downs.
In '79, when I was enrolled in a cinema class under Prof. Virgie Moreno, she disappeared mid-semester (probably one of her rejuvenating trips to Paris), and Jorge and Peque Gallaga took over the class that moved from UP Diliman to a room at the Metropolitan Museum. There we sat through screenings of Filipino (Ishmael Bernal's, no less), European and American films. Either Jorge or Peque led the discussion. We never raised questions, shushed into timidity by their knowledge and articulation, but nevertheless, we learned how to put on critical eyes when next we watched a film. Yes, Jorge still wore those slippers and spoke with no notes.
By then I think he held office at the Met's basement along with the hip crowd that put out, if memory serves, Metro magazine.
I'd hear his name now and then uttered by my husband who wondered where he was and thought aloud how the opinion pages could use a mind as erudite as Jorge's. When I learned how to use the lost and found machine in Facebook, there he was. By Jorge! He had aged, time had not been kind to him for mine was an image of a cherubic fellow reminiscent of Billy Crystal (not fair, Jorge, but something about Crystal's humor always brought you to mind).
So I PM'd him and yes, he still remembered Rolly and their work together at the news desk of Daily Express. I warned him that Rolly did not correspond and Jorge wrote back: "I remember that Marita had almost despaired of finding a reporter whose initiative and skill she could trust, then along came Rolly, who has apparently retained his detachment.A sea of water has passed under the bridge, Best wishes to you both."
And so Jorge went, right before the day of the holy innocents. Long live Jorge.
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