MANILA -- An old friend and colleague came by to pay his final respects on the last night of veteran entertainment reporter Mario Dumaual’s wake on Saturday night.

Joee Guilas was ABS-CBN's Malacañang beat reporter in the mid-1990s.

Guilas would work the day shift while Dumaual usually worked at night to cover showbiz events.

“We would always meet each other during the daily editorial meetings and every time we’ll be together he’ll always have stories for me," Guilas recalled in an interview with ABS-CBN News.

"I'm a typical reporter, very much chismoso especially when it comes to showbiz developments, so I would ask him 'O ano ang latest.' And he would always share those stories with me.”

Guilas said Dumaual wished him well when he left ABS-CBN to enter corporate communications in 1998.

“He wished me well and said 'OK let’s see each other again whatever it is you’re gonna be doing, I’ll support you'. And he actually kept his promise, his word,” Guilas said.

To keep his word, Guilas would invite Dumaual to events and Dumaual would oblige and attend saying, “every time I would have an entertainment related coverage he would always support me, and would always find the most legitimate story angle to get my story through TV Patrol so nakakatuwa laging lumalabas yung stories ko up until the time.”

Guilas currently anchors the late-night news on government-run People's Television.

The biggest lesson Dumaual instilled to Guilas, he said, was the value of friendship and relationship.

"Even if we went on different paths, different tracks he managed to keep his word as a friend as a big brother to me and every way he could he would always extend his assistance to me and of course that’s something that I also did on my part. So it’s the value of relationships and friendships which is very much important especially in the world like the media,” Guilas said.

As proof of Dumaual's kindness and sincerity, Guilas said the last time they met was during a press conference held this year for Filipino-American actor Vanessa Hudgens.

Guilas did not get a chance to interview Hudgens. Dumaual was the last reporter to be given a chance to ask her questions.

“Talagang isang sabi ko lang 'Kuya, itanong mo yung tanong ko'. I have to get my story and even if [we] are coming from different stations, competing networks, he did ask my questions and I got my stories that day,” he recalled.

Guilas confidently said he will meet his fellow UP alumnus in heaven.

“I know that you are smiling up there in heaven. Yeah I’m sure it’s gonna be heaven because you’ve done a lot of good in throughout your entire lifetime. Mario, thank you so much,” Guilas said as he left the wake.

Dumaual’s interment was held Sunday afternoon at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City.