Antonio Zumel

Antonio De Leon Zumel II (August 10, 1932 - August 13, 2001), also known by his nicknames Tony, Manong, Ching and Antumel, was a Filipino journalist, activist, and ;eftist revolutionary.

Zumel's father died in 1945 when he was 13 years old.

His father's death left a toll on the family, and his mother struggled to raise him and his siblings.

Basilisa de Leon had to sell her jewelry, and eventually, parcels of land that the family had bought over the years.

In 1947, Zumel moved to Manila to study high-school in the Far Eastern University, while living with "a spinster aunt" who ran a boarding house.

To support his studies, he took up odd-jobs to make an income.

Zumel described his experience working in the pier as hard, having to work 24 hour shifts before resting the next day.

At one point, Zumel worked at a construction job where he performed physical labor such as running errands, mixing cement, and assisting carpenters and masons.

He was not paid for this job, leaving an impression on him that will last his entire life.

In 1949, his aunt's boarding house business wasn't doing well.

Zumel thought of dropping out of school when his uncle, Salvador Peña, got him a job as a copyboy at The Philippine Herald.

This gave him the opportunity to continue on to college, working the day shift at the Herald while attending night classes at the Lyceum of the Philippines University.

Zumel was barely 17 at the time and lied about his age to be able to work.

During this time, Zumel observed the editors, copy readers, and reporters working at the Herald while continuing to perform menial tasks and reading up on journalism books that he bought.

Manuel Almario, a journalist who knew Zumel during this time, described him as "a very willing worker, cheerful, never complaining, very eager to know the profession."

During this time, one of the journalists, Teddy Benigno, was forming a union and invited Zumel to be a part of, which he early agreed to.

He had to hide his union involvement from Peña, who was personnel manager at the time.

After two years, Zumel was promoted from copyboy to proofreader.

He dropped out of college, believing it unnecessary since he already had a good job.

He worked in the Mechanical Department of the Herald and became close with the workers there.

Two years later, in 1953, Zumel became a reporter and covered mostly crime and political stories.

His coverage of police, labor, and other political stories would inform his political views.

Manuel Almario said of him that he "sympathized with the workers" as he covered stories for the Congress of Labor Organizations.

From 1955, Zumel and his associates were active in the National Press Club, becoming "fixtures at the bar or restaurant."

By the 1960s, the Herald union led by Teddy Benigno had become inactive.

Benigno had left the paper and those who remained had little interest in organizing work.

Zumel took it up to himself to try and re-organize the union, alongside a "small core of close friends" from the Mabuhay and El Debate, two other publications also owned by Vicente Madrigal alongside Herald.

Management caught wind of the idea and talked to Zumel, talking him out of pursuing a collective bargaining agreement for salary increases.

In 1962, the Herald was sold to the Soriano family, who owned San Miguel Corporation.

Zumel's union registered with the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions, headed by Cipriano Cid at the time.

Zumel was vice-president of the union.

In response, the new Herald management created a company union and affiliated it with the Philippine Transport and General Workers' Organization, headed by Roberto S. Oca.

He was two-time President of the National Press Club of the Philippines before going underground in 1972 at the start of the Marcos dictatorship.

In 1990, he was elected Chairperson of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in absentia, and was a senior adviser to the NDFP negotiating panel from 1994 until his death in 2001.

In 2016, Zumel was honored by having his name inscribed on the wall of remembrance at the Bantayog ng mga Bayani, which, after an extensive vetting process, posthumously recognizes the individuals who fought against the authoritarian regime of Ferdinand Marcos.

Zumel was born into a comfortable family in Laoag, Ilocos Norte to Antonio Zumel Sr., a lawyer with his own practice, and Basilisa de Leon, former school teacher, the second of six children.

Family members called him by his nickname "Ching".

Their family owned the only car in Sarrat, Ilocos Norte.

He described his father as having a "relatively good law practice," which allowed him to send his children to a private school, the Holy Ghost Academy, for elementary education.

His parents taught him the virtues of "honesty and integrity," and were against extravagance of any kind.