Alex Van Hagen

Tatler pays tribute to one of the Philippines' well-loved photographers who has called the country home for more than five decades

- Chit L Lijauco

He left his home country to follow his love halfway across the globe. It was not just a decision but a commitment which Alex Van Hagen, a Dutch photographer, kept until his death on the morning of June 16, 2023, four months after the love of his life, Maurice Arcache, passed away. He was 75.

Van Hagen was the epitome of loyalty through the ups and downs of their turbulent relationship. He could not explain why he stayed with Arcache through thick and thin save for the simplest of answers: “I just loved him that much.”

They met more than half a century ago, at a party in Van Hagen’s home city, The Hague, at a club. That meeting would start a life of more clubbing, partying and having fun in the playgrounds here and abroad. Van Hagen and Arcache were glued together like two peas in a pod, and it was difficult to imagine one without the other.