Thank you, Kuya Robert

Robert Alejandro, artist, teacher, advocate, TV personality, brother, uncle, and friend, died on Nov. 5. He was 60.

His farewell message, posted on his Facebook page Kuya Robert’s Healing Journey, reflects the way he lived as he battled colon cancer—full of love and gratitude. “Hanggang sa muling pagkikita. Till we meet again. A bientôt!” the caption read.

The photo, which also appears in his memoir, shows him smiling, wearing his favorite shirt embroidered with his artwork. Around Alejandro are words in his colorful lettering, dotted with familiar hearts and cute birds: “Maraming Salamat,” “God Bless You,” “I Am So Blessed By Your Friendship, “Thank You!”

Alejandro’s artistic inclination was evident in his childhood, and he would go on to study and teach fine arts at the University of the Philippines Diliman.

He was a TV reporter for “Probe Team,” host of the show “Art is Kool,” a children’s book illustrator, and resident designer at Papemelroti, which his parents founded and named after their children. Robert is the “ro” in Papemelroti and, from 2019 to 2024, he was president of Korben Corp., the company behind the brand.

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He was a founding member of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan (Ang INK) and the Communication Design Association of the Philippines, and a volunteer designer for Museo ng Pag-Asa, Angat Buhay, PAWS, Wild Bird Club of the Philippines, ATD Fourth World Philippines, Unicef, World Vision, and Habitat for Humanity.

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Alejandro was generous with his time and talent—and cancer didn’t change that. The prolific artist continued creating commissioned works, designing for Papemelroti, painting murals, and giving away his art for free during the historic presidential campaign of Leni Robredo.

‘My refuge’

“Art has always been my refuge, my safe place,” he told Lifestyle in an interview.

And with his huge heart, he helped others find sanctuary in art as well. He shared his passion for art through his TV show and workshops for children in need, in the streets and even in cemeteries.

During the pandemic, on the first day of the lockdown, concerned that kids might be scared about everything that was going on, he started giving free art workshops online. He did it every day for a whole month. Those workshops continued throughout the pandemic, with Teacher Robert teaching 200 young artists at a time.

He also tirelessly told his story, in hopes that his healing journey would inspire others.

In a 2021 interview with Lifestyle, Alejandro said he was depressed and suicidal at the time of his cancer diagnosis. After the doctor broke the news, his first thought was, “Okay, I don’t need to kill myself because I’m going to die.”

But after he was left alone in that hospital room, he kept thinking. “The little time I have left in this earth, okay, enough of this suicide, depression BS, enough of that. I told myself, I’m going to love myself. Because I never loved myself before that.”

Wake-up call

He added, laughing, “Cancer is a big wake-up call … Sabi ko, mamahalin ko na yung sarili ko 100 percent. I’m going to love myself and I’m going to live the best years of my life. Nothing is going to stop me.”

Alejandro refused to undergo chemotherapy, and chose to travel the world with his longtime partner Jetro Rafael instead.

Rafael, artist and chef behind the restaurant Van Gogh Is Bipolar, would spend the next years caring for Alejandro, making sure he was eating well and introducing the Budwig protocol into his diet.

(The Budwig protocol, created in the 1950s by German biochemist Johanna Budwig, is a diet plan that supports the treatment of cancer. It involves eating servings of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese along with fruits, vegetables, and fiber-rich foods while limiting the patient’s intake of refined and processed foods.)

It did wonders for Alejandro, helping bring him back from being “at death’s door,” and he and Rafael spread the word about it.

“If it helped me, it can help so many people who are really in dire need,” Alejandro said. “It is obviously a responsibility of mine to be able to share what we have done and what we’re doing in the hopes that it might be able to help other people.”

They chronicled their journey and shared recipes on their Facebook page and in a book, “Living Food: A Healing Journey,” which was published earlier this year.

“Thank you for healing us through your healing. Mabuhay ka, Robert!” someone posted on Facebook.

Alejandro, previously a junk food lover, became an advocate of eating healthy during his last years. He wanted to make the most out of the time he had left.

Robert Alejandro’s farewell message was posted with the caption “Hanggang sa muling pagkikita. Till we meet again. A bientôt!”

Unconditional love

He told Lifestyle, “I’m so blessed to be pain-free so that I’m able to do all these things that are important to me. The way I’m thinking now is, ‘Okay, I’m going to do this, this is what I’m going to leave behind.’ I always have that in my head. ‘Okay, I’m going na, what will I put my energy into? With the little time, with the little energy, what will you do?’ So I’m working with the Commission on Human Rights, I’m doing something for breast cancer, things like that.”

Diet was one crucial part of Alejandro being able to live beyond his prognosis. The other part was what he called “unconditional love.”

“The fact that I was able to live through this cancer, that I was able to show my unconditional love to my sisters … I feel their unconditional love for me and even Jetro. So I really feel that that’s even a greater healing for me, even bigger than this physical healing of cancer. For me that’s the reason I’m alive—to be able to show and feel that unconditional love that I never felt before.”

Around Christmas last year, he echoed the same sentiment in another interview with Lifestyle. “I am blessed to know that the truest treasures are friends and family that show unconditional love.”

Those who had the pleasure of getting to know Robert received the gift of basking in his beautiful energy. He was truly special. His joy, zest for life, and gratitude were—are—infectious. “Every moment now, I am so grateful to be alive,” he said.

He got emotional during our interview in 2021. “I know I’m supposed to be dead or in such great pain, but I’m not. So, I’m humbled, and I’m so grateful to be in this state, to be alive, to be talking to you now. To hear the thunder and lightning. To be able to tell my sisters that I love them so much, to tell my friends that I love them so much. I’m just so grateful.”

Loved by many

So much has been said about his “defiant optimism” but, he admitted, “I’m not positive all the time. That’s one thing also you have to admit to yourself—that you can’t be positive all the time, there are ups and downs. So you accept that and know that it will pass. Go to sleep, take a nice bath. For me, the mortality really says, ‘O ano, magmumukmok ka pa ba?’ Huwag na. Tama na.”

That Alejandro was willing to talk about mortality and death in such a matter-of-fact way was refreshing. In a post about an upcoming exhibit, he encouraged people to buy his art, joking, “Bili kayo. Art usually appreciates in value when the artist passes away.”

Many people are mourning the loss of Alejandro—and what a huge loss it is.

But he will live on—in his art, in his Papemelroti designs, in the budding artists whose passion he ignited, in the patients and their carers inspired to keep up the fight, in the many, many people who love him, in the countless lives he’s touched. He gave the world so much.

Those he has left behind can find comfort in the fact that he knew and felt just how loved he was—and he was grateful for it. For years, Alejandro was flooded with messages of love and encouragement from both strangers and people he knew. Even during Facebook live sessions, he had to keep pausing to say hi and reply to people who were expressing how much he meant to them. “I love you,” he kept saying, blowing them kisses through the screen.

During one Facebook live, he reminded everyone, “Please value the life that is given to you. Enjoy life to the fullest.”

We asked him: How does it feel to be loved by so many people?

He replied, smiling, “My friend Gilda Cordero-Fernando, before she passed, gumawa na siya ng kanyang wake. So sabi ko, ito na ‘yun, ito na ‘yung wake ko. I can read all these messages of love and kindness. I am so grateful to everybody.”