(Photo from Butch Galicia FB account)
MANILA – Roberto "Butch" Galicia, former chief of the Philippine News Agency (PNA) regional bureau based in Cotabato City, died in Scarborough, Toronto, Canada on June 5 at age 69, his family announced.
Galicia was born in Sampaloc, Manila on March 12, 1954.
After completing high school at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1970, his parents moved to Cotabato City where he finished AB English at Notre Dame University in 1975.
He taught at the Cotabato City Institute and other local schools and also worked as staff editor of local community newspapers, including the Mindanao Cross.
Galicia joined the PNA as a reporter and eventually became senior news editor and PNA Cotabato Bureau chief until 1990.
He was married to Evelyn D. Galicia and had three children: Francis Zodkiel, Lynette Joy, and Andrew Niccolo.
Galicia also served as Information Officer V of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) from August 1990 to September 1993.
Before migrating to Canada with his family about two decades ago, he also worked as managing editor of the NPC Digest of the National Press Club (NPC) of the Philippines. (PNA)
