Former Inquirer reporter Ed General dies of lingering illness at 50

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Former Inquirer correspondent Ed General died Monday of lingering illness at his residence in Zamboanga City. He was 50.

General had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and had been confined at a local hospital since December 21, said Ventje Isnani, a family friend of the Generals.

Isnani said General asked his family to take him back to their house, where he expired at about 6 p.m..

Born Edwin Joseph General in Jolo, Sulu, General was a news reporter for the Philippine Broadcasting Service Radyo ng Bayan, and a provincial news writer for Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO).

General studied Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service at the Lyceum of the Philippines University in Intramuros, Manila.

He joined the Inquirer Mindanao Bureau’s pool of correspondents at the height of the armed conflict and Abu Sayyaf kidnapping in Sulu in 1995.  SFM