Three Tenors producer: Reyes was a perfectionist

MANILA, Philippines - Friends of former Energy secretary Angelo Reyes remember him as a perfectionist and, most of all, a man with a big heart. Beth Tagle, producer of the Three Tenors charity concerts of which which Reyes was a participant, recalled that Reyes would stay in the studio until he perfected his piece. 

“He was a perfectionist… he was so professional,” she said.

Reyes performed in the concert along with former Interior secretary Joey Lina and former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority chairman Bayani Fernando.      The three performers waived their talent fees for the concerts held for the benefit of the Free Legal Assistance for Good Cops program of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and the Scholarship for the Children of the Military program for the families of soldiers killed in action.

The Three Tenors benefit concerts held during the Arroyo administration raised P5.3 million for the legal assistance program and P3.5 million for the scholarship program. 

Tagle also recalled that Reyes loved his mother very much. “He would call her up and talk to her until she falls sleep,” she said.

Reyes’ colleagues in the Arroyo Cabinet were also shocked and saddened by his death.

“I was stunned. I couldn’t believe the news. I’m grieving over the loss of someone who I worked with. He is a professional. He rose from the ranks. He served our people,” said Lina.

Fernando, who was attending a construction expo in India yesterday, was also saddened by Reyes’ death.

“I heard about it in the news. It was so sad,” he said.  

Former press secretary Rigoberto Tiglao said Reyes’ death was “tragic.” 

“Angie served his country his entire life. He deserves our deepest respect, and his family our sincerest condolences. It’s tragic that the reputation he built up for decades has been swiftly smeared publicly in a matter of a few weeks,” he said.

Former Energy secretary Vincent Perez said that as Defense secretary, Reyes was “a leader with intelligence, wit and action in public.”

In private, however, he was a “devoted son, husband, and father.”

San Juan Rep. JV Ejercito also expressed his condolences.

“The death of Angelo Reyes is tragic. Let us give time for the family to mourn his passing,” said Ejercito.                      

Reyes, 65, supposedly shot himself before his parents’ grave at the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina.                       

At the time of his death, he was parrying corruption charges, and petitioning for certiorari before the Supreme Court the decision of the Commission on Elections to disqualify him as second nominee of the 1-Utak party-list. – With Sheila Crisostomo, Edu Punay