Former Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Arroyo, led incumbents and ex-senators in paying tribute to the late former Senate President Edgardo Angara at necrological rites held at the Senate session hall on Wednesday.
During the rites, Senate President Aquilino Koko PImentel presented to the Angara familiy Resolution 105 expressing the Senate’s sympathy and condolences.
The unanimous Resolution cited ex-Senate President Angara’s achievements as a public servant, statesman, educator, lawyer and senator from 1987-1992; 1992-1998; 2001-2007 and 2007-2013.
Senate President Aquilino Koko Pimentel, in his eulogy, acknowledged Angara was “never idle.”
“Senator Angara’s achievements should inspire us in our works,” Pimentel said. “”We should all look up to him as a paragon of what a senator of our republic should be.”
Pimentel pointed out that Angara “as a lawmaker, authored sponsored or supported laws that made significant impact in the fields of education, health, social welfare, agriculture, good governance, energy, environment, and evben cultural arts.”
For his part, former President Joseph Estrada, also a former Senator, lamented Angara’s death and praised his “achievements as a legislator and educator who changed many Filipinos lives for the better.”
Former President Gloria Arroyo, in turn, called Angara “a giant among legal luminaries and an accomplished educator and a skillful and principled public servant.”
Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon described Angara as a “major influence” in his professional and political life.
“Ed’s passing came as a shock to me as I’m sure it did to most of us here today. When I first heard the news, it felt like the rug was pulled out from under my feet,” Drilon recalled. Drilon was with Angara in Tagaytay together with their friends and colleagues hours before the latter died on Sunday.
“I am privileged to have known him, to have laughed, walked and worked with him. It is not easy to bid him farewell, but I find comfort in the thought that his was a life well-lived. In his lifetime, he enriched many lives, including mine,” Drilon said in his eulogy.
Even at the ripe age of 83, Drilon said that Angara still had so many plans for his country, which led him to kid that he needed 100 more years and live up to 183 years old to ensure they all came to fruition.
Drilon said that Ed was many things to him, admitting, therefore, that it would be impossible to summarize his friendship and the memories he had shared with Angara for almost 50 years in a short speech.
“Ed was a jewel of a friend – a man who had my highest respect and admiration. It is not a secret that he was a major influence in my professional and political life,” he said.
Drilon recalled that it was Angara who invited him to join ACCRA law, a law firm that Angara put up along with prominent lawyers.
“We were not only fraternity brothers, we also worked together – from ACCRA to the Senate – and shared countless milestones,” he said.
“It was Ed who invited me to join ACCRA. He convinced me that since ACCRA was a new firm then, it would offer bigger opportunities for me,” he recalled. “As Ed promised, working in ACCRA was indeed an excellent career move.”
He recalled that when he was first elected senator in 1995, there was a change of leadership in the Senate, with Angara, who was then Senate President, being replaced by Sen. Neptali Gonzales.
“With nary a thought of my nascent political career, I threw my full support to Ed,” said Drilon, saying that it caused him to lose a committee chairmanship. He then joined the opposition group in the Senate, called the Conscience Bloc, along with Senators Angara, Ople, Tatad, Flavier, and Macapagal-Arroyo.
Drilon also supported Angara when he ran for Vice President in 1998 under Erap Estrada.
“Our friendship transcended political colors and affiliations, even if sometimes, we found ourselves opposing each other and sitting in opposite political fences. Once he even tried to depose me as Senate President. But, the friendship remained,” Drilon said.
Drilon said it would be difficult to fill the void that the death of the former Senate President, whose sterling accomplishments in the fields of politics, public service, law, and the academe cemented his niche in the nation’s life and history.
“The impact of the laws he authored, such as the Free High School Act, the Senior Citizen’s Act, PHILHEALTH Act and many more, will be deeply felt and appreciated by generations of Filipinos,” he said.
“His journey on earth was marked by his courage and determination to pursue his vision for our country, as well as his deep reservoir of ideas on how to uplift the lives of our countrymen,” he continued.
“Our country may have lost one of its brilliant minds and illustrious sons, but I am certain that Ed’s legacy is cradled in the bosom of a grateful nation,” he concluded.