Dr. Ligaya G. Tiamson-Rubin (Photo from her Facebook account)
THE Philippine literary community lost another beloved member with the passing of prize-winning author and teacher Dr. Ligaya G. Tiamson-Rubin, best known for her books on her hometown of Angono in Rizal province, on May 18. She was 73.
Tiamson-Rubin succumbed to complications from diabetes, according to the UPDate Diliman community news website.
Her death prompted tributes from a number of institutions and fellow writers, foremost of which was the Angono municipal government.
In a Facebook post, it hailed Tiamson-Rubin, wife of its Acting Mayor Antonio “Sonny” Rubin, as one of the children the town is most proud of.
“A good mother, a great writer, a model teacher, and one of the town’s most distinguished citizens,” it said in Filipino.
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Publishing House expressed sadness over her passing, calling her a “prolific writer.”
It published most of her books, among them Persona (2002), Paano Nagsusulat ang Isang Ina (How Does a Mother Write) (2003), Sagradong Abo: Kalipunan ng mga Tula (Sacred Ashes: Poems) (2003), and the Angono, Rizal series (2005–2008).
Tiamson-Rubin was an “esteemed scholar, prominent longtime faculty member, and beloved mentor at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman’s College of Arts and Letters (CAL),” it said in a statement.
In an email to The Manila Times, poet and performance artist Vim Nadera lauded her as an exemplary teacher, a prominent researcher on Angono, and a strong leader, having been a former chairman of CAL’s Department of Filipino and Philippine Literature, under whose term he began teaching there.
“She was one of the reasons I continued to be a teacher, despite having no intention at all of becoming one then. Because of her faith and trust in me, I didn’t even notice that I’ve been a professor for 10, even 20 years,” he wrote in Filipino.
In a Facebook post, playwright Frank G. Rivera, one of Tiamson-Rubin’s closest friends, called her “the one true mermaid swimming in pages and pages of precious accounts on her beloved Angono.”
“She is her hometown’s precious treasure. She herself is Angono’s legacy to Philippine letters and literature,” he said.
Several writers, including Joey Baquiran, Joi Barrios-Leblanc, and Richard Gappi, penned poems in her honor and posted them on their Facebook accounts.
Tiamson-Rubin, who was buried at Angono’s Saint Clement Cemetery last Thursday, is the third creative writer to pass away this month, after National Artist for Literature Cirilo F. Bautista on May 6 and Palanca Hall of Fame inductee Edgardo B. Maranan on May 8.
A life of teaching
Born on November 27, 1944 in Angono, Tiamson-Rubin completed her bachelor’s degree in Filipino in 1966 and master’s degree in teaching in 1971 at UP Diliman. She was a Ph.D. in Filipino candidate in the same school.
She taught at Mindanao State University (MSU) in Lanao del Sur province’s Marawi City in the 1970s, and in 1982 moved to her alma mater’s Filipino department. There, she taught creative writing and language and literature until 2009.
The UP Board of Regents appointed her as profesor emerita on August 27, 2010.
Tiamson-Rubin won prizes from the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature for her English essay “Turning Back and Moving Back” (third place, 1980) and Filipino essay “Paano Nagsusulat ang Isang Ina?” (third place, 1981).
In 2008, the Unyon ng mga Manunulat ng Pilipinas (Umpil, or Writers Union of the Philippines) awarded her the Gawad Paz Marquez Benitez—named after the pioneering educator and writer of the classic short story “Dead Stars”—for her “dynamic, intense, and penetrating approach to the teaching of language and Filipino literature.”
Besides her husband, Tiamson-Rubin is survived by her sons Ronald Patrick and Rainier, daughters-in-law, two grandchildren, and siblings.
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