From Manila Bulletin


We bid farewell to Senator Raul S. Roco: A Distinguished Public Servant


SENATOR Raul S. Roco was born on October 26, 1941, in Naga City in the province of Camarines Sur. The son of farmer Sulpicio Azuela Roco and public school teacher Rosario Orlanda Sagarbarria, he showed a commitment to service and excellence even at an early age. He finished elementary school at age 10 and completed high school at age 14 at the Ateneo de Naga. At age 18 he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, magna cum laude, at San Beda College in Manila.


He proceeded to get his Bachelor of Laws and became Abbott Awardee for Overall Excellence at San Beda College. As a young Bedan, he wrote the lyrics of the San Beda College Alma Mater Song and was editor-in-chief of The Bedan, the college newspaper. He took his Master of Comparative Law as a University Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, United States, where he was cross-enrolled at the Wharton School for Multinational Studies. With his extraordinary scholarly achievements and his sterling record of law practice and public service, he was conferred seven honorary doctoral degrees by various universities.

He served on the staff of the late Senator Benigno "Ninoy’’ Aquino where he drafted the landmark Study Now, Pay Later law. Taking time off from his legal work, he was executive producer of the late great film director Lino Brocka’s movie Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang which won six FAMAS Awards, including best film, in 1974.

From 1987 until 2000, he served as a legislator, first as representative of the second district of Camarines Sur from 1987 to 1992 and later as a Senator of the Republic. As senator from 1992 to 2000, he was credited with a number of significant reform measures, including the law that supported the central banking system, which earned him the title "Father of the Bangko Sentral.’’ As a legislator, he was also known to champion the interest of the youth and women, authoring several laws such as the Women in Nation-Building Law, the Nursing Act, the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law, the Anti-Rape Law, and the Child and Family Courts Act.

As Secretary of Education under President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, he protected teachers’ welfare, ensured prompt payment of their salaries, prohibited illegal deductions, and stopped the onerous 3 percent service fee long deducted by the department’s payroll group from teachers’ pay. He implemented the long-delayed basic education curriculum reform which focused the child on reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and Makabayan subjects.

Senator Roco passed away on August 5, 2005, at the age of 63.

We extend our condolences and sympathies to the family of Senator Raul S. Roco, his wife Sonia, children, other relatives and friends, on his untimely demise and pray for the eternal repose of his soul.

May he rest in peace


Ex-Senator Roco

buried on Aug. 11

beside father’s grave



By JOEL C. ATENCIO

The remains of former Education Secretary and Senator Raul S. Roco will be laid to rest in his hometown Naga City, Camarines Sur on Thursday, August 11, his son Robbie Pierre Roco said yesterday.

The young Roco said the family is still finalizing what time the late senator will be buried on Thursday.

Roco will be interred beside the grave of his father, Suplicio Roco. It was the former education chief’s final wish to be interred in Naga City, the heart of Bicolandia.

In an interview, Robbie Roco said his father fought a great battle against prostate cancer that was diagnosed in 1996. Last Friday, August 5, Roco succumbed to cardiac arrest secondary to multiple organ failure that was triggered by the cancer that spread to his bones and lungs.

Roco was wearing a white barong tagalog, white undershirt, and black slacks. He was placed in a dark blue wooden casket with the Philippine flag draped on it. A statue of St. Ezekiel Moreno (O.A.R.), patron saint of cancer patients, is prominently displayed at the right side of the coffin at the Chapel of the Resurrection of the Sta. Maria Della Strada Parish in Barangay Pansol, Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

Among those who have visited him, according to Robbie Roco, are Vice President Noli de Castro, Senate President Franklin Drilon, the South Border Band, musician-comedian Jaime Fabregas, lawyer Boni Alentajan, and National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) executive director Cecille Guidote Alvarez, and Senate witness Sandra Cam.

Vice President de Castro came over at 9 p.m. Friday while the rest were there earlier the same day. Other visitors kept coming over past 1:30 a.m. yesterday.

Philippine National Association of School Security Organization (Philnasso) president Jose Diño, who hails from Sorsogon province, said Roco will surely be missed by the education sector because of the reforms he instituted.

Friends believe Roco deserves state honors

By BEN R. ROSARIO

If close allies of the late former Sen. Raul Roco were to be asked, hoisting the Philippine flag at half-mast to symbolize national mourning could be a fitting tribute to honor the man many of the nation’s leaders believed to be the best president the country never had.

However, Roco’s colleagues in the close-knit 8th Congress believe such move can only spark a political controversy that might further worsen polarization among the country’s leaders.

"Knowing Raul, he would frown against the idea even if in our hearts, we believe he truly deserves the honor," said former Rep. Herminio Aquino, Roco’s running mate in last year’s presidential elections.

Describing Roco as a "true renaissance man," Aquino said the late statesman was the "leader we needed at this time – principled, brilliant and clean."

Half-mast honors had also been sought by the opposition when movie icon Fernando Poe Jr. died last year. Like Roco, Poe also ran for president but both lost to President Arroyo.

The controversy triggered intense debate among opposition and administration political forces but in the end, Poe was not given the posthumous honor.

Judging by the steady stream of personalities of opposing political persuasions that have attended the wake being held at the Chapel of the Resurrection of the Sta. Maria Della Strada Parish church in Quezon City, half-mast honors for the late senator could very well be their only point of agreement.

Among those who attended the wake were Vice President Noli de Castro. Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Rep. Rolando Andaya Jr., who are among the staunchest backers of the President Arroyo.

Also present were Arroyo critics, former President Corazon C. Aquino, Senate President Franklin Drilon, Deputy Speaker Benigno Aquino III, former Sen. Tito Sotto, Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile and former Cabinet secretaries Emilia Boncodin and Florencio Abad.

Former Rep. Antonio Aquino said he believes nobody will argue extending to Roco the highest tribute that the country can offer "to a man who has demonstrated great love and respect for the Filipino."

However, former Rep. Suplicio Roco, younger brother of the education secretary, said his brother just wanted to go home to his place of birth in Naga City, Camarines Sur.

The Roco family will grant his final wish — his remains will be sent to Naga City tomorrow and will be buried at the Sto. Nino Memorial Park where his father, Suplicio Azuela-Roco and younger sister, Lourdes, are buried.

Suplicio said his brother’s body will be buried on Thursday, with Naga City leaders promising to give him a hero’s burial.

Asked for comment on proposals to give Roco national honors, Suplicio said the idea is welcome but this will have to be decided by the national government.

"I do believe he deserves the tribute because he was also a hero of EDSA I. However, we will not demand for it," he said.

Robbie Pierre Roco, the late senator’s eldest son, revealed that his deceased father’s body will no longer be brought to the Senate or the House of Representatives although the two legislative bodies have asked the family that they be given a chance to pay their last respects for the former legislator.

Roco who succumbed to complications triggered by prostate cancer, served two terms as senator and as congressman.

Representative Andaya said Roco, 63, has left an indelible mark as the country’s best political leader.

"If history will later view Raul Roco as the best president the country never had, no one will contest such a judgment. Raul Roco had set the template on excellence and ethics in public service such that future aspirants for the presidency must demonstrate proof that they are as good as him," Andaya said in a statement.

Aksyon Demokratiko Rep. Edcel Lagman said Roco was a politician who was "unpolitical" because he disdained partisan compromises and did not subdue his intellect simply to appear common or popular."

"Raul Roco was primed for the presidency but was not favored by destiny," Lagman said.