FORMER legislator and Environment secretary Heherson “Sonny” Alvarez has lost his battle with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).
PDP Laban spokesperson Ron Munsayac announced the passing of Alvarez, who was the party’s secretary general for Cagayan Valley region, in a Twitter post Monday, April 20.
“Sen. Sonny, I will miss our impromptu meetings over coffee and lengthy phone calls where we will discuss our plans of strengthening the party and ingenious ideas ideas to help,” Munsayac posted.
Xilca Alvarez-Protacio, daughter of Alvarez and wife Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, confirmed on April 6 that her parents had contracted the disease, which is caused by the novel coronavirus, or Sars-CoV-2.
In her Facebook post, Protacio said her father had been moved to the intensive care unit while her mother had been taken off the ventilator and was already breathing comfortably despite her underlying medical conditions.
Alvarez was an opposition leader during the martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. He founded the Ninoy Aquino Movement in the United States.
He briefly served as Agrarian Reform minister under the Corazon Aquino government in 1986 before he was elected to the Senate in 1987.
He was reelected to the Senate for another six-year term in 1992.
He was elected representative of the 4th District of Isabela in May 1998 under the Lakas-NUCD-UMDP party, which he then served as secretary general.
He was appointed as Environment Secretary in 2001 and was the principal complainant in the impeachment case filed against former President Joseph Ejercito Estrada.
Meanwhile, Munsayac said the party is also mourning the loss of Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission commissioner Ted Contacto.
“Boss, I'll miss our whisky sessions where you imparted important life sessions. Your love for the party was unparalleled. Sad day for the Party,” Munsayac said in another Twitter post. (MVI/SunStar Philippines)