A JOURNALISM alumnus and former editor of the Philippine government’s official publication died on Saturday, July 26.
Pocholo Goitia, who spent his career in journalism, government communications and literature, died at the age of 43.
His death was confirmed by his friends and colleagues in several Facebook posts.
Goitia served as the editor-in-chief of The Flame, the official student publication of the UST Faculty of Arts and Letters, from 2005 to 2006.
He worked as the managing editor of the government publication Official Gazette during the administration of the late president Benigno Aquino III. Among his publications and editorial projects was the Style Guide for the Government and Historical Atlas of the Republic.
“He was my dependable, formidable —gifted—managing editor in the Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines online, and if we achieved anything in our efforts online and in print, it was because of his immense powers of concentration,” Manolo Quezon, a historian and former undersecretary for the defunct Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office (PCDSPO), said in a Facebook post.
“He was such a delight to work with that he had to be a part of the team we were forming. This guy delivers. No drama, no noise. He just does it,” Mai Mislang, a former colleague, wrote on Facebook.
Goitia worked as an assistant secretary of the PCDSPO from 2014 to 2016. He later joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, where he served as communications manager from 2017 to 2022.
Throughout his career, he also wrote fiction and essays, including the written piece titled “An Introduction to the Luminescent,” a story that portrays the futuristic class divide between the rich and the poor. F
