Former ambassador Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr. passes away
Former Ambassador Jose Apolinario Lozada Jr. has passed away. He was 67.
An official of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed this to INQUIRER.net. on Tuesday.
Lozada served as Philippine envoy to Austria, Palau and the Holy See.
Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano extended his condolences to the family of Lozada, whom he said was his seatmate at the House of Representatives.
After serving the Ramos administration as adviser for foreign affairs, Lozada was a two-term congressman of Negros Occidental.
“Jun Lozada was friend, seatmate and very close kami sa Congress. We did not agree with some issues then. Lately, we’re not in agreement with other issues,” Cayetano said in a chance interview before flying to Singapore to attend the 51st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) Ministerial meeting.
“To his family, please accept my sincere condolences but also ‘yung contribution niya from Ramos Administration to even now ‘yung sharing niya ng public opinion… will not be forgotten by the Filipino people,” he added.
Reports said Lozada was confined at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, and suffered brain bleeding. He survived prostate cancer in 2015, a year after he was diagnosed of the disease. /kga
