Former Senator Ernesto Herrera, 73

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Former senator Ernesto Herrera died of cardiac arrest about 2 a.m. on Thursday,  at the Manila Doctors Hospital along UN Avenue Manila.
He was 73.

Former Calape Bohol Mayor Ernest Herrera said his father was brought to the hospital almost a week ago to have a minor health problem checked but he then suffered a mild stroke at the hospital.

To ensure his recovery, the former senator was confined in the intensive care unit.

“He was okay. Everything was okay until this (Thursday) morning. He talked. He was conscious. (His) vitals signs were okay. Then this morning, it suddenly happened,” he told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

Ernest said the remains of his father would be brought at midnight on Friday at the Heritage Park. His wake will initially be done in Manila because the people in the Senate and in the House of Representatives wanted to pay their last respects to their former colleague.

But he said the remains would be brought to Cebu, the place of the family’s residence and roots.

The former senator was born on September 11, 1942. He was survived by his wife Lourdes and four children. Lourdes was in Cebu as of Thursday. She did not immediately know about her husband’s passing, said Ernest.

Ernest had asked for a news blackout in Cebu until the announcement by TV networks.

But Ernest said they kept their mother away from the TV so they could personally tell her about his death.

Herrera was an ally of former President Cory Aquino and was elected senator from 1987 to 1998. He was elected  congressman of the first district of Bohol from 1998 to 2001.

Aside from holding major posts in the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), he also became the general secretary of Asian Trade Union, Ernest said.  SFM