Powell mourns Ople’s death

WASHINGTON — Hours after emerging from prostate surgery, US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Monday eulogized the late Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople as a "pivotal" 20th century figure.

"The United States stands with the Filipino people and with Mr. Ople’s family and colleagues in this time of grief," Powell said in a statement.

"As I told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday, Blas Ople was one of the pivotal figures of the late 20th century for Philippine history," Powell said.

"He was a renaissance man who won distinction as an academician, author, legislator and statesman, and was a warm friend of the United States," he said.

Powell highlighted Ople’s role as a "staunch supporter of the worldwide struggle against terrorism and of Operation Iraqi Freedom."

"The sacrifices invested in the liberation of Iraq, to which Filipinos made a significant contribution, will be fully vindicated and cherished for all time," he said.

"He will be sorely missed in international circles, but he leaves behind a US-Philippines relationship that has grown stronger month by month since he took over the Department of Foreign Affairs in 2002," he said.

Powell underwent successful surgery for prostate cancer on Monday and is expected to make a full recovery with no complications, the State Department said.

Powell, 66, endured a two-hour operation for "localized prostate cancer" at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, spokesman Richard Boucher said.

Powell said Ople was a "fighter for freedom" when, as a 16-year-old during World War II, he fought the Japanese invaders, and later as a staunch supporter of the global war against terror and the strike against Iraq.

Powell quoted a "prophecy" of Ople last Nov. 22 in which he said that "Baghdad will be transformed from a symbol of brutal despotism to a new, shining symbol of human freedom. The sacrifices invested in the liberation of Iraq, to which Filipinos made a significant contribution, will be fully vindicated and cherished for all time."

In Manila, President Arroyo led the nation’s leaders in expressing their sympathies over Ople’s death.

Mrs. Arroyo said Ople will be given full state funeral honors on Sunday at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City, and ordered all flags nationwide flown at half-mast.

Ople, 76, fell ill on a flight from Tokyo to Bangkok en route to Bahrain at the weekend and his plane was diverted to Taiwan, where he died.

Former President Joseph Estrada said Ople remained a faithful servant of the nation up to the last moment of his life.

"When Ka Blas decided to join the Macapagal-Arroyo administration as Foreign Affairs Secretary, I did not take this against him. I was even happy for him and for our nation as well that someone his stature would lead a most vital government agency," Estrada said in a statement.

He said Ople was a man who "would not trade his principles to appease the enemies of true justice and democracy."

"His death may be forgotten in time but his contributions to the nation and the cause of freedom and democracy everywhere will always be remembered," Estrada said.

A fellow Bulakeño, Agrarian Reform Secretary and former Bulacan governor Roberto Pagdanganan, said it was proper for Malacañang to accord a state funeral for Ople.

In a statement, Pagdanganan said giving such an honor is but fitting for Ople since he is a "rare statesman whose undying idealism led him in critical times to the forefront of mending a fractious nation."

"I will remember him as an intellectual and a pragmatist, a leader and a writer whose eloquence, brilliance, deep sense of history, political astuteness and unqualified love of the Filipinos should serve as a model for us all," Pagdanganan said. - AFP, Marvin Sy, Jose Katigbak