Aquino mourns passing of veteran news anchor

MANILA, Philippines—President Benigno Aquino  paid his last respects to the late television newsman Angelo Castro, Jr. on Good Friday.

Castro, longtime anchor of the ABS-CBN newscast The World Tonight, succumbed to lung cancer on Maundy Thursday.

“The President visited the wake of Angelo Castro, Jr., late afternoon (on Good Friday) to personally pay his last respects,” Abigail Valte said on Saturday.

Malacañang issued a statement paying tribute to the eloquent news anchor on Thursday after his passing.

“We mourn the passing of Angelo Castro, Jr. For many years he was a calm and reassuring presence in the late evening news,” said Edwin Lacierda, Aquino’s spokesperson, in a statement on Maundy Thursday.

“His passing marks the closing of an era of gentlemanly broadcasting, where erudition and dignity were the hallmarks of news and current affairs,” he added.

Castro’s widow, June Keithley, was one of the broadcasters that reported on the clandestine Radio Bandido developments during the four-day People Power Revolution that ended the dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ 20-year rule and swept Corazon Aquino to the presidency in 1986.