Doris Trinidad Gamalinda, 95

ADORACION “DORIS” Trinidad Gamalinda, journalist, essayist, and poet, passed away on Monday, February 13, 2023. She was 95.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Varsitarian recalled that Gamalinda started her career as a journalist at the Manila Times in 1968, where she was a section editor until the paper was closed during Martial Law in 1972. Before becoming a full-time journalist for the Times, she contributed to the Sunday Times Magazine and Manila Chronicle. 

Other publications where Gamalinda worked were Focus Magazine and People Magazine, where she became editor. She also served as the editor of the Times Journal’s lifestyle section. She also headed the publications department of the National Media Production Center in 1977.

In 1981, Gamalinda became editor-in-chief of the magazine Woman’s Home Companion. Under her leadership, the publication became the most widely circulated lifestyle magazine nationwide. Ten years later in 1991, her book “Looking Glass” was published. 

Gamalinda’s retirement in 1995 saw her publish more books: “Permutations of Love” (1996), “The Way of the Miracle” (1998), and “Mysteries and Memories” (2000). The Inquirer noted that Gamalinda was “by nature” a poet. She also wrote “Now and Lifetimes Ago” (2001) and “Two Voices” (2012). 

The Inquirer called Gamalinda’s work an exploration of “the interconnectedness of writing, personal history, and memory, placing great value on the significance of family, friendships, art and literature, spirituality, and even politics and personal loss.” 

Before writing professionally, Gamalinda was the literature editor of the Varsitarian, the official student publication of her alma mater, the University of Santo Tomas (UST). The late F. Sionil Jose was her editor-in-chief at the time. Gamalinda graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy, summa cum laude, in 1949.  

Jose praised “the felicity of language that only a poet can muster, the depth of perception and the illumination” in his introduction to her book “Mysteries and Memories.” The book, published in 2000, was awarded Book of the Year by the Manila Writers Circle.  

Gamalinda’s passion for literature lives on in her works and in her descendants. Her son Eric, grandchildren Natasha, Jonathan, and Carla all served as editors of the Varsitarian. Eric has received the Carlos Palanca Memorial award several times for his poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and plays.