Bacolod exec’s passing due COVID-19 surprised family

BACOLOD CITY — When Bacolod Councilor Elmer Sy tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted at the Bacolod Adventist Medical Center on June 17, his family never expected that he would die.

Sy, 66, and his wife, Mary Glor, were admitted to the hospital after they tested positive for the coronavirus disease along with a caregiver, their daughter Psyche Marie Sy said.

The counselor seemed fine in the beginning but his condition gradually worsened and he developed pneumonia. When he died on Friday, the doctors said it was due to cardiac arrest.

Psyche said her father was a kidney patient undergoing dialysis twice a week. He was planning to have a kidney transplant.

“The people of Bacolod should be very careful because COVID is no joke,” she said.

Her mother and the caregiver have since recovered and returned home.

Psyche said his father was cremated and there was no schedule yet for the wake and funeral.

Bacolod public officials have described Sy as a dedicated public servant who lived by his motto: “less talk, more action”

Sy became a Bacolod councilor in 1998 and was on his sixth term at the time of his death.

“Sy was a man who worked to improve the lives of people through various infrastructure projects, scholarships and by helping indigent patients in Bacolod,” Psyche said.

“My papa was simple, kind, generous, a hardworking man, and a loving father,” she added.