Melba Valdez-Bernad, whose career as a technology journalist spanned almost three decades, died on Friday, February 12, at 1:48 AM, after a long battle with breast cancer. She was 49.
Her passing was announced by her family. The details of her wake and interment are expected to be announced by her husband Miguel Bernad, a long-time employee of the Italian Embassy.
Valdez-Bernad started her career as an IT journalist with trade paper Computerworld Philippines which she joined in December 1993. She was editor of the publication when she left in March 2013.
From 2008 to 2016, she was the Manila-based Editor of Networks Asia (Singapore), SMBWorld Asia (Singapore), and CFO Innovation Asia (Hong Kong).
She was also a two-time awardee of the Catholic Mass Media Awards (Best News Coverage in 2003 and Best News Coverage for Print in 2004). She was also an awardee of the first Philippine Cyberpress Journalism Award.
At the time of her passing, Valdez-Bernad was the co-publisher and concurrent editor-in-chief of Upgrade Magazine, an online publication focused on IT, both enterprise and consumer sectors. She was also co-publisher and editor of Zest Magazine, Upgrade’s sister online publication which focuses on lifestyle.
Born on Jan. 6, 1972, Valdez-Bernad grew up in Papua New Guinea, a place she called “paradise” in her throwback posts in Facebook a few months before her death. Her family eventually moved back to the Philippines where she took up her college education, studying computer science.
She also dabbled on online entrepreneurship, selling essential oils harvested from her husband’s citronella farm in Ozamiz City in Mindanao.
