Former SSS chairman Thelmo Cunanan dies at 72

UPDATED Jan. 19; 11:30 a.m. - Thelmo Cunanan, former ambassador to Cambodia and former chairperson of the Social Security System, passed away on Sunday after a two-year battle against prostate cancer. He was 72. Before he passed away on Tuesday, Cunanan was confined for over two weeks at The Medical City because of stage four cancer. He died in the presence of 20 to 30 family members, including his wife, former Inquirer columnist Belinda Olivares Cunanan. In an interview with GMANews.TV, his daughter Christine said aside from having to cope with cancer, his father had deal with charges of anomalies that were hurled against him in the last several months. “His name was being maligned a lot in the media, and I think it contributed a lot to his illness," she said. He was summoned to a Senate investigation in August last year for allegedly receiving excessive paychecks as SSS chairperson. Cunanan was also tagged in a tax evasion charge in November last year. On the issue of his compensation as SSS chair person, Cunanan, in a statement provided by his daughter, said the figures were exaggerated. Cunanan said no changes were made in the SSS compensation scheme that has been in place since the administration of the late President Corazon Aquino, mother of incumbent President Benigno Simeon Aquino III. On the tax evasion charge, Cunanan denied this and said he had the papers to support his claim. 'A patriot' Christine described her father as “a patriot till the very end." Before his appointment to the SSS, Cunanan served as president and CEO of Philippine National Oil Co. A West Point graduate, he also joined the Philippine Army and reached the rank of lieutenant general. His daughter said Cunanan led troops to the rescue of then President Corazon C. Aquino’s administration during the most serious threat against it in 1989. “Because of him, the government was saved," she said. “My father said, ‘This is the government that was elected by the people,’" Christine recalled. Cunanan’s wake is being held at the Heritage Memorial Park in Fort Bonifacio. He will be buried after a 10:00 a.m. Mass on Saturday, January22. — Paterno Esmaquel II/VS/VVP, GMANews.TV