Malacañang condoles with Lucio Tan Jr.’s family

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang condoled with the family of Lucio Tan Jr., president of airline operator PAL Holdings Inc., who died Monday.

“The Office of the President expresses its deep condolences and heartfelt sympathies to the Tan family, especially to Mr. Lucio Tan, his wife and his children, on the untimely demise of Mr. Bong Tan at the age of 53,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement Monday.

Tan, 53, passed away on Monday, two days after collapsing unconscious during a basketball match in Mandaluyong City.

READ: PAL Holdings president Lucio ‘Bong’ Tan Jr. dies

Panelo said Tan “impressed me as a humble person, with a serious mien but with a ready smile to whomsoever he met in social events and official functions.”

“Given his social stature, he never threw his weight around and always ready to lend his hand to anyone who approached him for assistance,” he said.

Tan, he said, “was a good friend, a kind-hearted brother to his siblings, a loving and dutiful son to his parent, and an efficient and competent corporate man.”

“As family, friends, and colleagues pay tribute to the life of Mr. Bong Tan, we fervently ask the Almighty to grant him eternal repose and pray that perpetual light shines upon him as he rests in happiness and peace,” he added.

Communications Secretary Martin Andanar also expressed condolences to the family of Tan.

“[H]is untimely death is a loss not only to his loved ones but a loss to the sport of basketball and to the field of business, now less a very accomplished businessman with Tan’s passing,” Andanar said.