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Thursday, January 29, 2004
Former VP Laurel dies
FORMER Vice President Salvador Laurel died of cancer Wednesday dawn in his house in San Francisco in the US. He was 76.
Laurel died at 10:32 a.m. Tuesday in the US (2:23 a.m. in Manila). He flew to the US in June 2003 to undergo chemotherapy at the Stanford University Hospital in San Francisco, USA. He later lapsed into a coma.
“The President extends her sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones of the late Vice President Salvador Laurel. He loved freedom and valiantly fought for it. He will surely be missed by his countrymen,” said Malacañang spokesperson Ignacio Bunye..
Laurel was the running mate of Corazon Aquino in the 1985 snap elections against dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In 1997, Laurel was appointed by then President Fidel Ramos to head the National Centennial Commission and the Philippine Centennial Exposition ’98 Corp., two organizations that oversaw the preparations for the celebration of the country’s 100th year of independence in 1998.
The Expo Filipino, which was built at the cost of P3.5 billion, closed down in 1999 owing to heavy losses.
In 2003, Laurel pleaded not guilty in his arraignment before the Sandiganbayan in a graft case involving the controversial construction of a P1.165-billion Freedom Ring, the centerpiece of the Expo Filipino in Pampanga. Miko Santos
(January 29, 2004 issue)
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