ICBAN JR.

A veteran journalist and a cabalen of President Arroyo is filling the big shoes left by the well-loved Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who passed away Tuesday.

President Arroyo on Thursday designated Manila Bulletin editor-in-chief Crispulo “Jun” Icban Jr. as acting Press Secretary, saying she hopes he would work with the press as well as his predecessor.

The President confirmed Icban’s appointment during a luncheon with members of the Malacañang Press Corps, a few hours before Remonde’s remains were brought to the Palace.

"He will no longer be your boss. You will now be his client," Mrs. Arroyo told this reporter before entering the State Dining Room, breaking the news about Icban's appointment to the Office of the Press Secretary.

"He has accepted the position," she added.

Mrs. Arroyo, speaking to reporters during lunch, said one lesson she learned from Remonde was to choose a Press Secretary from the ranks of the media.

“I hope he will mesh with you as well as Cerge did,” she said, referring to Icban, whose family hails from Lubao, Pampanga.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the terms of Icban’s appointment will be known as soon as the President signs the papers.

Ermita said the President believes Icban, 74, is qualified for the OPS top post due to his wide experience in the media.

“If Congress is already in session, then he will have to be designated as acting and his papers will be forward on to the Commission on Appointments for confirmation,” he said.

“When Congress is not in session, it is interim appointment so he can function otherwise he cannot immediately function,” he added.

The appointment of an acting Press Secretary was made after the President initially considered Philippine Information Agency chief Conrado Limcaoco as temporary replacement for Remonde.

Limcaoco, however, requested the President to serve only as officer-in-charge at the OPS pending the appointment of a permanent secretary due to his full load at the PIA. He said the President granted his request.

Icban meantime was surprised by his appointment, admitting that he has to learn the ropes of being a cabinet secretary.

The appointment was made two days after Remonde died of cardiac arrest. He was 51 years old.

Icban, Jun to friends and associates, was born in Tondo, Manila, on August 3, 1935. He graduated from the Tarlac Central Elementary School, Class Valedictorian, in 1946; and from the Pampanga High School, Class Valedictorian, in 1950.

He studied at the University of the Philippines (UP)-Diliman, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in English degree, magna cum laude, in 1954. In his senior year at UP, he was editor-in-chief of the Philippine Collegian, the university student paper.

Upon graduation, he joined the Manila Times as general assistant in the editorial department, then as reporter covering the Department of Foreign Affairs, and later as editorial writer. Years later, he was named its News Editor, a position he held until the paper was closed down when martial law was declared in 1972.

While he was with the Manila Times, he was accorded Fulbright and Smith Mundt grants in 1957-58 to study at Syracuse University in New York where he graduated with a Master of Arts in Journalism.

In 1966-67, he was one of 12 American and six international newsmen in the annual Nieman Fellowship program at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

Icban also served as professorial lecturer in journalism and English at the Philippine Women’s University from 1956 to 1957 and at UP-Diliman from 1958 to 1973.

Dean Gloria Feliciano of the UP Institute of Mass Communication and Icban authored a book, “Philippine Mass Media in Perspective”, which is being used as reference in Philippine communication schools today.

In 1974, two years after the Manila Times closed down, Icban joined the Manila Bulletin as consultant to the publisher, later becoming News Editor, and still later Editor. He became Editor-in-Chief on November 25, 2003.

Icban has received numerous awards in his over half a century in journalism. Among them: one of the Outstanding Kapampangans, 1988, awarded by the Pampanga provincial government; one of the Distinguished Tarlaquenos, 2003, awarded by the Tarlac provincialgGovernment; Doctor of Philosophy in Management, honoris causa, conferred by the Pampanga Agricultural College, April 12, 2006.

He is married to Zenaida Pamintuan Icban of Bacolor, Pampanga. They have six children and 16 grandchildren.