Ex-Negros Occidental gov Marañon Jr. leaves ‘legacy of hope,’ says bishop

BACOLOD CITY –– “He left a legacy of hope.”

This was how San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza described former Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr., who died of acute respiratory failure secondary to acute pulmonary thromboembolism, at the Riverside Medical Center in Bacolod City last Thursday night.

“Thank you for standing with the youth and our right to a livable future,” said Alminaza, who was the main celebrant at the funeral mass of Marañon at the new St. Joseph’s Parish Church in Sagay City on Sunday afternoon.

Marañon, 84, served as governor of Negros Occidental for nine years and a public servant for more than five decades.

He also served as councilor, vice mayor, and mayor of Sagay City, and assemblyman and congressman of Negros Occidental.

Alminaza said Marañon was a leader who listened and championed the cause of the environment.

“We are proud to remain a coal-free and renewable energy province, and we are blessed to have had a leader who understood that the planet and its people are what matters most,” he said.

The bishop said it was significant that the family decided that Marañon be buried on the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron of ecology.

Present at the funeral mass at St. Joseph’s Parish Church that was built on a 2-hectare property donated by the former governor, were his family led by his wife, Dr. Marilyn Maraָnon, and son Sagay Mayor Alfredo Marañon III, and public officials led by Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson and Vice Gov. Jeffrey Ferrer.