Former senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta passes away

Update

MANILA, Philippines — Former senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta passed away on Thursday night, her son announced. She was 75.

“On behalf of my family, it is with great sadness that I announce the passing of my mom at 10:48 p.m. of May 14,” Malabon Mayor Antolin “Lenlen” Oreta said in a Facebook post.

Mayor Oreta remembered his mother  as a “loving grandmother, mother, and wife and a friend to those whose lives she touched.”

“Former Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta was a public servant who devoted her life to the country and her adopted hometown of Malabon,” he said.

In the Senate, Aquino-Oreta mainly pushed for legislation in the education and employment sectors.

“I want to take care of the teacher so that the teacher in turn will take care of our children, so in turn our children will take care of the future of the country,” Aquino-Oreta was quoted as saying on the Senate’s website.

Before being elected as a member of the upper chamber, Aquino-Oreta served as legislator in the House of Representatives for three consecutive terms, from 1987-1998, representing the district of Malabon-Navotas.

She also became the first woman to serve as Assistant Majority Floor Leader in the history of the Lower House.

Aquino-Oreta took up Literature and history at the Assumption Convent and received her International Studies degree in Cuidad Ducal, Avila, Spain.

She became a Lieutenant Colonel (Reserved) in the Philippine Air Force after earning a Master’s Degree in National Security Administration from the National Defense College of the Philippines.

She was a sister of former senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.

https://www.facebook.com/LenLenOreta/posts/3285908324777041