Legarda on LJM: ‘She had gravitas…. sometimes she’s also childlike’

“SHE had the gravitas not many people have. Sometimes she is also childlike.”

This was how Senator Loren Legarda remembered the editor in chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, who passed away on Christmas Eve.

Legarda said Magsanoc’s passing “leaves a void and tugs at the heart.”

“Letty’s work ethic is remarkable and her nose for news is a gift,” the senator said in a statement on Saturday.

She said Magsanoc was known for her commitment to democracy, which was her greatest weapon in leading the Inquirer for 24 years.

Legarda then pointed out the various recognitions that Magsanoc had received for her work as a journalist and editor.

Among them was when she was named one of “The Stars of Asia” awarded by BusinessWeek international magazine in 2000 to 50 Asians for leading change in the world’s largest continent, among Asia’s heroes of the last 60 years by Time magazine in 2006, Marcelo H. Del Pilar Journalism Awardee for Print in 2000″ and Journalist of the Year last June 2015.

Legarda said Magsanoc was not just an exemplary editor and esteemed journalist but also “a sincere, caring friend.”

” I sincerely believe that she loved me and cared for me. She had a soft spot for me and I felt it,” she said.

The senator also thanked Magsanoc for supporting her advocacies on environmental protection, climate change adaptation, and heritage preservation, among others.

“Letty appreciated my work on climate change and always tried to have it covered and land on front page because she knew the importance of the issue. She even made me write and this was both an honor and pressure for me,” said Legarda, who wrote for the Inquirer several articles on climate and disaster resilience.

“We were not prepared for Letty’s passing. She leaves a void,” the senator added as she  expressed her deepest condolences to the family of the demise.