Requiem for Sonny
Our hearts bleed when watching on television, or reading, about the hundreds of thousands victims of COVID-19 in foreign countries and in ours. But the demise of a close friend on account of his lost battle with the invisible enemy leaves us bereft beyond words. Heherson “Sonny” Alvarez passed away the other day after a month of confinement at a hospital in Manila. Such a waste, we mutter, such a waste that a life dedicated to serving others would go away, like a sunset after a blazing sunrise.
Heherson Alvarez was a senator, congressman, secretary of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, environmentalist, and human rights advocate.
He was born in Santiago, Isabela on Oct. 26, 1939, was a graduate of the University of the Philippines which granted him an Outstanding Alumnus Award, and had a master’s degree in economics and public administration from Harvard University. One of the youngest Constitutional Convention delegates of 1971, he opposed the dictatorship and refused to sign the Marcos-dictated Constitution.
He evaded a “Shoot-to-Kill” order by going on exile and founded the opposition movement called the Ninoy Aquino Movement (NAM), in the United States. His escape, as narrated in an essay for a broadsheet by his wife, Cecile Guidote, is a thrilling cat-and-mouse story, evading as he did, the brutal military men after his neck, being transported to Hong Kong in the cargo hold of a ship courtesy of a close friend, Ricky Delgado, and the ship captain, and welcomed in the United States where he pursued his battling of a dictatorship and for a free, democratic Philippines. A Heherson Alvarez story on film would be a blockbuster.
When he returned to the Philippines after the EDSA Revolution which drove the Marcos family out of the country, President Corazon Aquino appointed him secretary of Agrarian Reform and later, he was head of DENR. He was elected to the Philippine Senate in the country’s first free election in 1987 and reelected for another six-year term in 1992. He was called Mr. Environment, when, as chair of the Senate committee on environment for ten years, he was the leading figure of the environment movements in Congress, launching all the laws and initiatives in environmental issues.
He founded the Earth Savers Movement and authored the resolution declaring April 22 as “Earth Day.”
Over the years that he was in the Senate, he was consistently judged outstanding senator by the different print and multi-media award giving bodies.
He authored the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), the centerpiece program of the Aquino administration and the law creating the Department of Energy which was the basic instrument of the Ramos administration in solving the brownouts in 1993. He vigorously pushed for the Export-Armada Approach to Development which paved the way to a vigorous export growth.
Reports tell of his being responsible for the introduction of unleaded gasoline in the country through a voluntary negotiation with the three oil companies, dubbed as the Healthy Air Pact signed in Malacanang by then President Fidel Ramos. That was the beginning of the crusade for Clean Air Act.
In recognition of his environmental achievements here and abroad, he was awarded the International Public Policy Achievement, the first non-western to be honored by the prestigious Washington-based Climate Institute.
John C. Toping Jr., president of the Climate Institute, Washington, DC, said, “Heherson Alvarez is not the Al Gore of the Philippines. Al Gore is the Alvarez of the world.”
For his leadership in the democratic struggle, he was recognized with the Outstanding Human Rights Award by the Fund for Free expression in New York. He was responsible for the toppling of then President Joseph Estrada from power; in recognition of his effort, the People Power Commission gave him the EDSA People Power Freedom Award.
Heherson and his wife, Cecile Guidote Alvarez, a leading figure in the environment and educational theater fields, checked in at the hospital for treatment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cecile survived. They have two children, Hexilon and Herxilca.
He ran for a congressional seat in his Fourth District of Isabela in the 2016 election, but, seeing the unhealthy vote-buying practice during the campaign, he withdrew from the race.
Despite his outstanding stature, he remained humble and friendly, and a believer in claiming that right is right, that no wrong can be made right. The last time this columnist saw him was two years ago, at an intimate dinner for a “core group” hosted by former House Speaker Joe de Venecia and former Representative Gina de Venecia. The close friends were Sonny and his wife Cecile; business tycoon Fernando Pena, real estate figure Nards Jimenez and wife Kay, respected lawyer Amado Valdez and wife Nellie, columnist Bel Cunanan, Philippine Red Cross Gov. Saeed Daof, Francis Manglapus, Lito and Veronica Jimenez, Carmen Pedrosa, and this columnist. Everyone shed many tears for Sonny’s demise.
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The president of The Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc., Benjamin de Leon, deeply regrets the resignation of Dr. Ernesto Pernia as secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority. His statement sent to this columnist, is as follows:
“For those who embody the true meaning of being a civil servant or government employee, joining public service is a decision for the brave and the principled. To offer majority of one’s time. To be constantly thinking of how to ensure that the public’s interest is prioritized, takes its toll on even the strongest of Filipinos.
“Dr. Ernesto Pernia, secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, is one such public servant and leader. For nearly four years, he has helped in keeping the country’s good economic performance. The World Bank has said that ‘the Philippines is one of the most dynamic economies in the East Asia Pacific region.’
“Dr. Pernia bore the brunt of many criticisms due to hard decisions he had to make and advise this administration. Decisions that were not easily felt in micro-level terms but results are seen in how the country fares with the rest of world’s economies. The World Bank also showed in their November 2019 report that the Philippines ‘is poised to make the leap from a lower-middle income country with a gross national income per capita of $3,660 in 2017 to an upper-middle income country (per capita income range of $3,896 – 12,055) in the near term.’
“That is why, the Forum for Family Planning and Development Inc. along with other members of civil society organizations, are saddened by the decision of Dr. Pernia to step down as NEDA secretary. But it’s a decision we admire and respect.”
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