Dumaguete City, Philippines, April 30, 2011 — Atty. Alexander Romeo G. Amor, 83, died today at the SU Medical Center where he has been hospitalized off and on since March. He had undergone brain surgery and had seemed to be recovering.
Atty. Amor served as the acting director at the Silliman University School of Journalism and Communications, now the college of Mass Communications. “He has the distinction of being the most loyal faculty of the Silliman School… He was there from the beginning, until his end,” said Dr. Crispin C. Maslog, who succeeded him as the first fulltime director.
As a teacher — both at the SU College of Mass Communications and the SU College of Law — Atty. Amor had the reputation of being a good mentor and a raconteur who regaled his students with his latest adventures.
“He did take his chance with an unknown quantity, and years later, when I’d end up with over 20 years with Hearst, I look back to that mentoring I received from someone who gave me my earliest break as a college student. That was as huge a confidence builder any college sophomore could have expected,” said Texas-based lawyer and journalist, Oswald Esperat.
Atty. Amor’s legal practice spanned being the city secretary of Dumaguete City in the 1950s, to corporate law, to immigration law which enabled many of his Chinese friends to become Filipino citizens, and to family law which enabled more than 200 Filipinos to get out of bad marriages.
As leading lawyer expert on the Filipino version of divorce, he was often threatened with ex-communication by the Roman Catholic Church. They did not know, however, that he was an Aglipayan, a member of the Philippine Independent Church.
Atty. Amor is also member of the SUHS Class of 1948, but he graduated from Hibbard Institute in Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. As the high school class valedictorian, he was awarded a scholarship to study law at Silliman University. As a student, he also served as a correspondent for the Philippine News Service which later became the Philippine News Agency.
Atty. Amor eventually helped organized the pioneering weekly, Negros Express, and became the editor and publisher of the community newspaper, The Vanguard. For several years, he represented the Visayas region as a trustee for the Philippine Press Institute.
Atty. Amor was an active Rotarian, a pioneering member of the Rotary Club of Dumaguete City. He also organized and became the first president of the Negros Oriental chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
His body lies in state at the Udarbe Memory Chapel at Silliman University. Evening prayers are being held at 8 p.m. daily, until the memorial service on May 9 at 2 p.m. at Silliman Church. After the service, his body will be interred at the family plot in Dumaguete Memorial Park, along with the ashes of his wife, Delia J. Amor, who pre-deceased him on Dec. 30, 1998.
Atty. Alexander Romeo Amor was known by many names — Roming to his sisters and parents; Alex to his friends and clients; Daddy or A.T.T.Y. to his children, and Lolo Ming to his grandchildren.
He is survived by his children and children-in law: Alex Jr. and Boots Amor of Sibulan, Neg. Or.; Audrey and Claudio Ablona of Toronto, Canada; Alexdel Amor of Edmonton, Canada; Adlai Amor of Arlington, VA; Averill and Mae Amor of Manila; Arnel Amor of Dumaguete City; and Armida Amor of Boston, MA. Audrey Amor-Ablona and Alexdel Amor serve as SU alumni chapter presidents in Toronto and Edmonton respectively.
Atty. Amor is also survived by nine grandchildren, six sisters, a brother-in-law, countless nephews, nieces, and countless friends of his children who were adopted as part of the Amor family.
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