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Profile
The Veteran:
Director Max Sangil
“He saw the trees because he refused to be blinded by the forest.”
by Maricar Savella-Villamil, BCDA Public Affairs Department
This was how former Pampanga Press Club President
Ramiro Mercado and his other media colleagues
described veteran journalist Max Sangil, in the latter’s
book Somewhere in Central Luzon, published in 1994.
It reads further: “To those who know Max Sangil as
a newspaper columnist in over two decades, one is
familiar with the tools of his trade—the axe that opens
many a Pandora box; dagger insinuations; a cleaver of
sarcasm; poniards of innuendos; provocative lances;
and for those he had hurt
and wounded, a shoeshine
rag and a gypsy violin, the
first to wipe their tears and
the second to salve their
indignation. These are his
tools for jungle survival.”
To date, BCDA Director
Maximo Sangil has been
a journalist for almost four
decades.
BOLD
EXERTIONS
Veteran journalist
Max Sangil has
made a name in
the local print and
broadcast media. He
is currently one of the
co-hosts of Talakayan,
a public affairs program
aired over 95.1 RW, CLTV36
and other cable carriers.
Apart from this, he is a
member of CAMI or the
Capampangan Media, Inc.,
whose president is Federico
Pascual of the Philippine Star
and chairman, Crispulo
Icban, Jr., editor-in-chief of
the Manila Bulletin. Further
he is a member of the
Tuesday Club of
Shangri-La Edsa, whose
members are the biggies in the
journalism and political worlds.
A seasoned newsman, he worked before and after
Martial Law years as a reporter and a consultant of the
Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the defunct broadsheets
Philippine Daily Star and Philippine Daily Express.
For a decade he was a radio commentator of DWGV-
FM, and has worked with local and national newspapers
as a former columnist of SunStar Pampanga among
other Central Luzon publications, editor of the Angeles
Observer and Consultant to the Philippine Journal
Group of Companies.
Looking back, even at a young age, Mr. Sangil knew
that writing is his life and his passion. As a college
student in the sixties, he was already able to put himself
to school as he was already working professionally as a
writer for komiks and magazines.
“I write good in Filipino,” he beams.
He was earning P4.00 per page or P12.00 for a fourpage
short story; a semester then was a little over a
hundred pesos. Eventually, he left University of Sto.
Tomas without earning his degree but soon enough,
became a successful publisher of his own paper in
Pampanga. At the same time, the young journalist did
radio broadcast and political PR (public relations) and
inevitably, entered politics.
MAYOR MAX
From 1988 to 1998, Director Sangil was the number one
member of the City Council of Angeles until he became
Mayor in 1998, when then Mayor Ed Pamintuan and
Vice Mayor Francis Nepomuceno vacated their posts.
He ran for mayor the same year, under the banner of
the Liberal Party, but was not successful.
Mr. Sangil was also past president of the Rotary Club of
Angeles, and was recognized as the Most Outstanding
Rotarian in 2002 (Rotary District 3790) and Outstanding
Club President in 2005.
MONDAY CLUB CHAIRMAN
“I have a beautiful life. I have a beautiful family. I have
several friends. As a matter of fact, I am what they call
the Chairman Emeritus of a fellowship club in Angeles
called the ‘Monday Club’ where a cross-section of
Angeles’ businessmen, newsmen, etcetera meet every
Monday.”
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