He covered Camp Olivas when it was still the headquarters of the 1st PC Zone comprising all provinces north of Manila, through its PCINP Region 3 transformation up to its present Police Regional Office 3, befriending a veritable who’s who in the Constabulary like Tanabe, Diaz, Gatan, Eduardo, Felix, De Guzman, Nazareno.
He has special closeness with President Fidel V. Ramos whom he first covered as a young Constabulary lieutenant. It was a habit for FVR to single him out and embrace him whenever they met, especially at the time of the Mount Pinatubo devastations.
He held the distinction of being the only Central Luzon-based newsman to have won the Esso Journalism Awards three times.
From the pre-Martial Law Manila Chronicle where he covered the Department of National Defense, he transferred to the Journal Group of Publications – Times Journal, People’s Journal and People’s Tonight, even as he worked as stringer for the Associated Press.
For a time he sat as chief of the General Information and Production Division of the Department of Public Information, Region 3 office.
He was a lifetime member of the National Press Club and the Pampanga Press Club, one of the founding officers of the Bulacan Press Club and an original convenor of the Central Luzon Media Association.
The “”original scooper” of the Central Luzon media, Benjamin Gamos passed away peacefully in his home in Malolos City, Bulacan Monday morning. He was 85.
Mang Ben, as he is reverently and fondly called, is survived by his sons Percival, Gabriel and Emilio, daughters-in-law Flor and Beth, and grandchildren Aldrin, Gabrielle and Paul Angelo.
His remains lie at the Gamos residence at Del Carmen Village, Barangay Sumapang Matanda, City of Malolos, Bulacan. Interment will be on Sunday, September 13, at the Barasoain Public Cemetery in Malolos City.
