LEANDRO “DD” CORONEL, political columnist, died on September 03, 2018 after a brief illness. He was 70 years old.
Coronel was an active participant in online discussion of the burning issues of the day, a steadfast advocate of freedom of expression and unwavering respect for people’s rights.
He is survived by his sisters: Alice Paras, Gregoria (Baby) de Luna, Rosario (Charrie) Reyes, and Asuncion (Nini) Nuqui, and in-laws, nieces, nephews, and his siblings’ grandchildren.
Coronel’s funeral wake will be held at the residence of his sister, Alice, in Brgy. San Antonio, Floridablanca, Pampanga, from September 03 to September 06.
His body will cremated and inurned at the Eternal Covenant Memorial Park in Floridablanca. Coronel applied for work at the World Bank in Washington, DC, as an undergraduate student.
He capitalized on his writing skills to rise from the ranks to become a writer/editor and finally, senior press officer and spokesman.
He was one of only two Filipinos to hold the position of spokesman based in Washington, DC.
The World Bank is a multilateral organization, with more than 100 member nations, tasked to assist poor countries in developing their economies through lending and technical assistance for specific projects. Coronel was with the bank from 1969 to 1997.
Coronel helped organize the World Bank-IMF Filipino Association even when forming national groupings were frowned upon by the two multilateral organizations based in Washington, DC.
He was elected founding president of the association. While he was based in the United States, he was an activist against the dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.
His newspaper column, “Observer,” which was critical of the Marcos regime, was published by major Filipino-American newspapers, including the largest, “Philippine News,” based in San Francisco, California.
Coronel’s activism earned him a place in dictator Marcos’ blacklist, exposed by Consul Ruperto Baliao of the Philippine consulate in Chicago, Illinois. Coronel’s writings have been published in three books, “Cogs on the Wheel,” “Imelda’s Cake,” and “Invisible Americans.”
The legislature of the state of Maryland, which is adjacent to Washington, DC, cited Coronel on the eve of his return home to the Philippines in 1997 for his advocacy for democratic ideals and tagged him as a Filipino “freedom fighter.”
His citation was sponsored by Del. David Valderrama, the only Filipino-American to get elected to the Maryland House of Delegates.
Coronel returned to the Philippines in 1997 and resumed his column-writing career, first by contributing commentary to the “Philippine Daily Inquirer” and later as a columnist in various newspapers, among them “The Manila Times” and “BusinessMirror.”
At the time of his death, he was a political columnist of “The Manila Bulletin.”
His “Manila Observer” column is published in “Balita” in Toronto, Canada, and “Manila Mail” in Washington, DC.
Coronel is a native son of Floridablanca, Pampanga, and one of three personalities listed in Wikipedia under “Notable Floridablancans.”
