"Behn had requested that no wake be held, no flowers and instead that all his family and friends come together to celebrate his life," the family member said in a text message.
"The family will be making an announcement on when this celebration will be held soon. Just allow us some time to grieve and make the proper arrangements. He will be cremated today," she texted yesterday.
The news of his passing spurred a flurry of messages on Mr. Cervantes’s Facebook page and on Twitter.
"History would tell you of his great deeds in fighting for what’s right and as a professor, he wasn’t afraid to tell his students what he thought. Oh I learned so much from him during that semester! Rest in peace, sir. Rest Well," wrote Precious Prieto, a former student.
Mr. Cervantes was a long-time BusinessWorld columnist -- writing about old Hollywood, family, friends, theater, Philippine showbiz and Martial Law in his twice weekly column "Take Ten," which debuted in the paper’s very first issue 26 years ago and continued until ill health forced him to stop earlier this year. His last column came out on May 31. He also wrote for this paper’s predecessor, BusinessDay, from the 1980s until it closed. Mr. Cervantes was also a regular contributor to the entertainment section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Mr. Cervantes first made his mark onstage, working with the University of the Philippines (UP) Dramatic Club where he appeared in plays like No Exit and Murder in the Cathedral. It was also at UP where he made his directorial debut, directing his good friend Lino Brocka in Mr. Roberts. It was while working with the drama club and his fraternity Upsilon Sigma Phi programs that he met many of the personalities who later made it into his newspaper columns: Winnie Monsod, Nestor Torre, Joonee Gamboa, Adul de Leon, and Brocka, among many others.
He also worked with a number of theater groups outside of UP, like the Arena Theater, the Barangay Theater Guild, the Manila Theater Guild, the Philippine Educational Theater Association and Repertory Philippines, both as an actor and director. According to the CCP Encyclopedia, "His roles as the Marquis de Sade in Marat/Sade, 1984, and as the diplomat in M. Butterfly, 1990, are memorable."
He started out directing English language plays like The House of Bernarda Alba and Jesus Christ Superstar in UP in the 1960s and early ’70s. He then moved to political Filipino plays such as Alay kay Ka Amado (1971) and Barikada (1971), which were staged by Gintong Silahis, the theater arm of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan, a radical group he joined. The group specialized in street theater and performed at rallies during those politically turbulent times.
Despite his work with the underground movement, about which he wrote often in his column, Mr. Cervantes found the time to direct plays for the UP Repertory Company, which he founded, including Ricaredo Demetillo’s Heart of Emptiness is Black (1974), Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio’s Ang Bundok (1976), Pagbibinyag sa Apoy at Dugo (Walking Canes and Fans, 1985), and Nick Joaquin’s Larawan (1982).
His best known film was also his first -- Sakada (1976), a critically acclaimed drama on the plight of sugar workers that was banned a few days after it opened.
Between 1972 and 1985, he was arrested several times for his political work. In 1983, he and Lino Brocka founded the Free the Artist Movement, which went on to become the Concerned Artists for the Philippines, which he led for three years.
He was honored by Aliw with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and was a recipient of the Cultural Center of the Philippines’s Centennial Award.
Mr. Cervantes was born in Cabanatuan on Aug. 26, 1938, the ninth of the 11 children of Cenon Cervantes and Rosario Elizabeth Holcombe.
He earned a bachelor of arts degree in speech and drama at UP, and a master of fine arts in theater arts at the University of Hawaii. He also studied drama and film at Columbia University and Beloit College in Wisconsin.
He taught theater courses at the UP from 1967 to his retirement in 1988.
He returned to his beloved UP in the final years of his life, working zealously with the Alumni Association, directing a number of performances for alumni homecomings.
Last June, the UP Alumni Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a teacher, actor and director.Source: Business World Online