MANILA, Philippines – President Aquino and former President Fidel Ramos were among those who visited the wake of former senator and health secretary Juan Flavier at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.
Aquino arrived with Interior and Local Government Secretary Manuel Roxas II at the Church of the Risen Lord Friday afternoon after inspecting major passenger terminals in Metro Manila.
Earlier that day Ramos, who appointed Flavier to the Department of Health (DOH) in 1992, also visited the wake. A mass was officiated Friday night by Ateneo de Manila president Jett Villarin.
Flavier’s remains will lie in state at the campus until Monday afternoon, according to his son-in-law Roby Alampay.
The Flavier family is discouraging the sending of flowers, in lieu of which contributions to a charity to be announced later may be given, Alampay said.
Flavier, one of the most loved public servants in the country, passed away on Thursday afternoon due to multiple organ failure brought about by pneumonia. He was 79.
Flavier was health secretary until 1995 and served as senator for two terms until 2008. During his Senate stint, he chaired the Senate committee on health and demography.
Flavier was known for pushing landmark legislation such as the Traditional Medicine Law, the Poverty Alleviation Law, Clean Air Act and the Indigenous People’s Rights Act.
He also authored and sponsored the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2001; Republic Act 9177, Declaring Eidul Fit’r as a National Holiday; the Barangay Micro-Business Enterprises Act; the National Service Training Program for Tertiary Students of 2002; the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002; the Plant Variety Protection Act; the Philippine Nursing Act of 2002; and the Tobacco Regulation Act.
Flavier remained a board member of PhilHealth and SM Foundation until 2013.
Senate President Franklin Drilon and other senators also mourned Flavier’s death, saying the country has lost a great statesman.
“I join the entire nation in mourning the passing of Senator Juan M. Flavier. While the country has lost a statesman who achieved greatness in dedicating his entire life to public service, I have lost a dear friend,” Drilon said in a statement.
Drilon remembered Flavier for his humility and simplicity.
“He was a doctor who shunned the lure of a financially rewarding private practice to be a ‘doctor to the barrios’,” Drilon said.
Former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. also regarded Flavier as a heroic icon in the struggle to inform the public of the deadly menace of cigarette smoking.
“Against all odds, he succeeded in requiring cigarette packets to carry the warning of the toxic effects of smoking,” Pimentel recounted.
Pimentel was Senate President when Flavier got re-elected in 12th Congress.
Former senator Ramon Magsaysay Jr. regarded Flavier as an “honorable, hardworking and effective public servant who loved his country and people.”
“When I visited him and wife Susan in their house in Tierra Pura, I was pleasantly surprised at how simple and unpretentious their house remained. It must have been the same house they owned since the sixties,” Magsaysay said.
Rehabilitation czar and former senator Panfilo Lacson said Flavier was a “rare breed of public servant and politician” and lamented that he was not able to work with the former health secretary while at the Senate.
“We will miss his wit and humor,” Lacson said. With Christina Mendez, Mayen Jaymalin