FORMER Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman passed away at 7:32 a.m. on Sunday, September 19, 2021. She was 68.

This was announced in a Facebook post by Cesar Purisima, who served in the Cabinet with Soliman during the administrations of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III. Purisima was finance secretary.

Soliman served as social welfare secretary under Arroyo from 2001-2005 and Aquino from 2010 to 2016.

Purisima said Soliman had “introduced and pushed for the conditional cash transfer program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or 4Ps) that has benefited millions of Filipinos. That alone should seal your legacy of truly caring for the #poor and #underprivileged.”

Last month, Soliman tested positive for Covid-19, according to her husband, Hector Soliman, who wrote about the family’s experience with Covid-19 in a piece for Rappler earlier this month.

In that piece on the family’s ordeal, Hector described Dinky as the “most fragile, since she has a lot of co-morbidities.” (CTL)