PHOTO by CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net
Family, friends, and former colleagues have paid tribute to former Senate President Edgardo “Edong” Angara, a “giant among legal luminaries” as described by a past colleague at the Senate.
Former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as well as other former and incumbent senators and prominent personalities in politics, attended the necrological service for Angara, who died of heart attack last Sunday. He was 83.
The necrological service, which started around 10 a.m., was held at the Senate in Pasay City.
Estrada, who is now mayor of Manila, was the first to deliver his eulogy for the late senator, followed by Mrs. Arroyo, who is now a representative of Pampanga.
“I admire Ed for many things pero higit pa dyan noon at ngayon, itinuturing kong isang karangalan na nakilala ko sya at naging kaibigan si Ed Angara,” Estrada said in his eulogy.
“I had such high hopes for our team when I chose him as my running mate in 1998 presidential elections. Alam kong maasahan ko ang kanyang katapatan, talino at galing at maging ang kanyang hangarin na maingat ang mga Pilipino mula sa kahirapan.”
“Salamat Ed. Salamat sa iyong pamanang dangal sa paglilingkod at sa pagmamahal sa bayan. You will be missed by all who knew you and by those whose lives were touched by your generosity and commitment to serve. Goodbye Ed and God grant you eternal peace,” Estrada added.
Angara was Estrada’s running mate in the 1998 presidential polls.
Ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the Senate necrological services for the late former Senate President Edgardo “Edong” Angara. (MAILA AGER / INQUIRER.net)
For Arroyo, the late senator was a “giant among legal luminaries.”
“Edgardo Angara was a giant among legal luminaries, an accomplished educator, and a skillful and principled public servant,” she said.
According to Mrs. Arroyo, Angara “wore many hats and he wore them well.”
“But today, in these halls of the of the Senate where Ed and I, and many of us here spent six fulfilling years together, let me give a grateful sendoff to the public servant who to me was a kind and mild-mannered mentor,” she also said.
Former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr, former Senators Rene Saguisag, and Pia Cayetano (now Taguig Representative), and Senator Joel Villanueva were also among those who likewise delivered their eulogies for Angara.
PHOTO by CATHY MIRANDA / INQUIRER.net
Also in attendance during the necrological service were current Senate President Aguilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri, Richard Gordon, Loren Legarda, Franklin Drilon, Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, and Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, among others. /kga
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