The University of the East community, including UE alumni the world over, sincerely condoles with the family of Dr. Howard Que Dee, an exemplary UE graduate who had been the Philippine Ambassador to the Vatican as well as to the Republic of Malta, who passed away last Wednesday, August 21, 2024. He was 94.

Ambassador Dee, who was born in Tondo, Manila, on November 23, 1930, is a UE alumnus twice over. He first pursued the degree of Bachelor of Business Administration back when UE was still the Philippine College of Commerce and Business Administration (PCCBA). After graduating and earning his UE BBA degree in 1951, Mr. Dee went on to pursue the degree of Master of Arts in Economics at the UE Graduate School, and was just a thesis shy of earning what would have been his second UE degree.

Mr. Dee was a man of action, a fact made manifest by his long and fruitful career and which was already evident even as a UE student. In addition to his academic work, he was the Editor of what was initially the PCCBA Business Journal. When the PCCBA was granted university status and became UE in 1950, that business journal became the Dawn, UE’s legendary student newspaper, and Mr. Dee was its first Editor-in-Chief.

Mr. Dee remained closely knit to his Alma Mater post-graduation. Not long after earning his baccalaureate degree from the University, he became the President of the UE Alumni Association, and was instrumental in the massive fund-raising campaign to produce the University’s iconic statue, Lualhati.

Mr. Dee went on to become a co-incorporator of United Laboratories Inc. or Unilab. At that renowned pharmaceutical company, Mr. Dee was Vice President and General Manager from 1953 to 1965, and was its President from 1965 to 1972. Amid his immense Unilab work, he found time to become the founder of the Ten Outstanding Young Men or TOYM Awards for the Manila Jaycees in 1958.

In his nearly two full decades at Unilab, not only did Mr. Dee cater to the health needs of all sectors of the nation, he and the company pioneered the concept of corporate social responsibility. In addition, not only was he one of Unilab’s bigwigs who were UE alumni, he also hired many UE graduates to work in that company.

Social development had since been such an indelible mark of Mr. Dee’s career. For one thing, in 1972, he became a Founding Trustee of Philippine Business for Social Progress, a social development-oriented group.

In 1975, he founded the Assisi Development Foundation and was its Chairman as of 2018. Inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi, who embraced poverty and espoused simplicity, the Foundation was Mr. Dee’s way of responding to the needs of the poor through local and foreign contributions, thereby empowering impoverished Filipinos to improve their own lives.

In 1984, he founded yet another social development entity, the Philippine Development Assistance Program, of which he was Chairman up to 1986. He was also the President of the Association of Foundations in 1985.

In 1986, Mr. Dee was appointed Philippine Ambassador to the Holy See, a.k.a. the Vatican—a highly fitting stint given both his devotion to Christianity as well as his career of compassion. A Marian devotee since 1960, the honorable Howard Dee was even nicknamed “Our Lady’s Ambassador” by the late Pope John Paul II, reportedly due to Amb. Dee’s consistent discussions with the Pope about the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was the country’s ambassador to the Vatican and to Malta within 1986 to 1990.

After those overseas stints, Ambassador Dee continued to be instrumental to the government and the country, particularly in terms of the peace process and conflict resolution.

Firstly, he was the Lead Convenor of the 1990 National Peace Commission, which would later segue into being appointed Chair, effective 1993 to 1996, of the Government Panel for Peace Talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front. In 2002, he was appointed Presidential Adviser on Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs. In that capacity, which has the rank of Cabinet Secretary, Amb. Dee sought freedom for members of indigenous groups in jail due to cultural misunderstanding, and sought to bridge the divide between conflicting Muslims and Christians. He was, in fact, active in development groups involving our countrymen in the South, such as Tabang Mindanao and Pagtabangan BaSulTa (a.k.a. Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi).

In 2004 up to 2011, Amb. Dee was the Vice Chairman of Pondo ng Pinoy Community Foundation Inc. In 2011, he and the Foundation launched the Hapag-asa Feeding Program in the Archdiocese of Manila. Also in 2004, he cofounded the ASA Philippines Foundation. Established in partnership with the Benigno S. Aquino Foundation, ASA Philippines is a non-profit, non-stock corporation specializing in nationwide microfinance services for the poor, transforming helpless indigents into empowered entrepreneurs.

Amb. Dee had also been the Vice Chairman of the Family Rosary Crusade and President of Bahay Maria Inc. He also found time to author three books about the Christian faith: God’s Greatest Gift, published in 1981; Mankind’s Final Destiny, in 1992; and Living the Beatitudes with St. Joseph, in 2004.

Many are the awards that were bestowed upon Ambassador Dee. These include the Pontifical Order of St. Sylvester in 1985; the Pius X Equestrial Order of the Grand Cross, First Class, in 1988; the Gawad Mabini Award from the Philippine government in 1999; the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2003 Dr. Jose Rizal Awards; and the lone 2006 Aurora Aragon Quezon Special Peace Award. On September 25, 2006, during his Alma Mater’s 60th Foundation Anniversary, Ambassador Dee was formally recognized as one of UE’s 60 Most Outstanding Alumni, in formal ceremonies at the UE Theater.

On April 25, 2012, UE conferred upon the then 81-year-old Ambassador Dee the degree of Doctor of Humanities, Honoris Causa, during the University’s yearend college and graduate-level commencement at the PICC Plenary Hall. He was the 11th individual to have received an honorary UE Doctor of Humanities degree.

On August 31, 2018, Ambassador Dee was formally honored as one of six recipients—along with honorees hailing from Cambodia, East Timor, India and Vietnam—of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which is considered Asia’s answer to the Nobel Prize and at the time marked its 60th year. Per the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Amb. Dee was recognized for “championing the human face of peace, justice and economic growth,” and for his “quietly heroic half-century of service to the Filipino people, his abiding dedication to the pursuit of social justice and peace in achieving dignity and progress for the poor, and his being, by his deeds, a true servant of his faith and an exemplary citizen of his nation.”

In light of Amb. Dee’s passing, Novena Masses have been held in his name since August 22 and which will go on nightly, at 7 p.m., up to Friday, August 30, 2024, via Zoom (ID: 869 4796 0736 | passcode: HQD). A Funeral Mass will be held in his name this Sunday, August 25, 2 p.m., at Santuario de San Antonio on McKinley Road in Makati City.

Peacemaker, public servant, corporate social responsibility pioneer, steward of the underprivileged, Christian author, devoted family man, multi-awarded individual, Warrior Alumnus: We in UE are appreciative and proud of Ambassador Howard Q. Dee—of who he was, all that he has achieved, all the good that he did for others, and the impact of all of his efforts upon countless lives.

Eternal peace be upon thee, Warrior Ambassador, and eternal thanks for making your Alma Mater proud!