UP Diliman (UPD) bids farewell to former faculty members Emmanuel E. Buendia, DPA and Cris Vertido who recently passed away.

Buendia, a former professorial lecturer at the UPD National College of Public Administration and Governance, passed away on March 29.

According to an email the NCPAG Publications Office sent to UPDate Online, Buendia was a professorial lecturer at the NCPAG from November 2003 to May 2004, teaching PA 239 (Special Problems in Public Administration and National Development).

In a post on the NCPAG Facebook page, Buendia was described as a “constant collaborator in many capacity building and knowledge production endeavors, particularly in the field of democratic governance.”

Buendia earned his Doctor of Public Administration from UPD in 2001, his Master in Business Management from the Asian Institute of Management in 1988, and his BA (economics) from UPD in 1983.

Meanwhile, Vertido passed away on March 18. He was a faculty member at the UPD Department of Speech Communication and Theatre Arts (DSCTA) and at the then UPD Department of Film and Audio-Visual Communication (now UP Film Institute / UPFI).

According to a March 21 post of the DSCTA on its Facebook page, Vertido was a “BA speech and drama graduate of the department, earned a master’s degree in theater history and criticism, with film as minor, at Ohio University on a Fulbright grant. He also served as director of the Philippine High School for the Arts.”

In the same post, the DSCTA said “his contributions to our institution were invaluable, and their impact on students, colleagues, artists, and theatre practitioners alike will be remembered fondly. Our thoughts are with Sir Cris’ loved ones during this difficult time.”

In a March 27 UPFI post on its Facebook page, the institute stated Vertido “appeared in major motion pictures since the mid-1970s and was distinguished for the award-winning World War II feature, Panaghoy sa Suba, which he wrote. It was an entry for the Metro Manila Film Festival of 2004 that would bag top honors including Best Screenplay for him.”