‘Sir Jun' Icban: Excellent editor, mentor to all reporters, everybody's friend

Let me pay tribute to our long-time colleague and editor in this paper who passed away last April 5, Crispulo Icban Jr., everyone’s “Sir Jun” or “Mang June.”

- DEEDEE M. SIYTANGCO

A bright self-effacing man, excellent editor, everybody’s friend, and mentor to all the reporters and aspiring section editors in the paper, he favored no one. In all his long years with the company, (47 years) he did not have an “enemy.”

“He played fair to everyone,” a pillar in the public relations industry told us.

Aspiring journalist-contributors, struggling public relations practitioners, aspiring reporters – everyone knew him as a very generous and humble man, with all his talents, and “power” in the editorial room.

To call him “very approachable” is an understatement. I remember my earlier years in the office when I was still a contributor, Jun Icban was a senior up the ranks but he was a great help in getting me adjusted to the grind of newspapering. This kapangpangan gentleman went through my “copy kindly, edited them and gave it back with a smile.