Not spending much time with his family was “one of the biggest regrets” of the late Senate President Edgardo “Edong” Angara.
Angara himself confided this to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri during their several trips together.
“He would confide in me that one of his biggest regrets is that he didn’t spend as much time with his family. On how he wished he was there more often for his children growing up, rather than always being so focused on work,” Zubiri said in his eulogy for the late senator.
“To you Sonny, he loved you very much and he was so proud of you. And in a way, these last few years, he tried to make up for it by spending more time with his apos and taking them to trips to make up for lost time serving our people,” he said, referring to Angara’s son, incumbent Senator Sonny Angara.
A week before he died of heart attack on Sunday, May 13, the late senator went on a trip to Hong Kong with his seven-year-old grandson, Javier, Sonny’s youngest son.
“And his plan was just for him, 83-year-old man and a seven-year old grandson to travel to Hongkong together. And my secretary booked it –- the two of them,” Sonny said in his response to the eulogies for his father.
“Imagine if something happened to him, sino ang mag-aalaga sa kanya? Yung kanyang apo? [Who would take care of him? His grandson?” Sonny added.
Zubiri said the late senator, whom he considered as his mentor and one of his father figures, did not only love his family and the country “but most of all, he loved this institution.”
“Last Thursday, out of the blue, he sent me text message to ask, “Migs, how is our beloved Senate?” Showing genuine concern and love for the hallowed institution he spent close to three decades of his life in,” he said.
“All I can say, Tito Ed, is it has been an honor to have worked beside you and be mentored by you in the Senate. I am what I am here today because of what you taught me and the impact you have created in my life. I will forever be grateful and will miss you terribly.” /jpv
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