Arroyo, former Cabinet members pay respects to Reyes

Former President Gloria Arroyo and members of her former Cabinet joined friends who paid their respects to the late former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes in Quezon City Tuesday night. Mrs. Arroyo and former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo went to the Ascension Columbary along Araneta Avenue to condole with the Reyes family, dzBB reported early Wednesday. Other Arroyo Cabinet officials who went to the first night of Reyes’ wake included secretaries Esperanza Cabral (health), Agnes Devanadera (justice) and Norberto Gonzales Jr. (national security adviser), and former socio-economic planning secretary Romulo Neri. Also in the wake were former Local Water Utility Administration head Prospero Pichay Jr., former presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio, former deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar, former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority head Augusto Syjuco, and Dionisio Santiago (Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency). Chief Justice Renato Corona also attended the first night of the wake, while Pampanga Archbishop Paciano Aniceto offered a Mass, the report said. Likewise, anti-crime crusader Teresita Ang-See and Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting head Henrietta de Villa attended Tuesday night’s wake. Security remained tight at the venue even before dawn Wednesday, with media asked to keep their distance, according to a separate dzBB report. “Angie was a friend, one of my friends in the Cabinet. I was shocked. Noong nagkaproblema ako sa Senado he was telling me to be brave, patibayin ang loob ko. I didn’t expect mangyari ito sa kanya. I’m hoping things will turn out for the better for him and his family," Neri said. (Reyes was one of my friends in the Cabinet. I was shocked to learn of his death. When I had problems with the Senate he encouraged me to be brave. I did not expect this to happen to him.) Neri was referring to his own ordeal before the Senate in 2008, when the chamber grilled him over the $329.48-million national broadband network project mess. Reyes shot himself in front of his parents’ grave in a memorial park in Marikina City Tuesday morning. He was rushed to a Quezon City hospital but doctors failed to revive him. The dzBB report said other Arroyo administration officials who went to pay their respects to Reyes included former Sen. Richard Gordon and former interior secretary Rafael Alunan. Former PDEA’s Santiago said Reyes looked “peaceful" inside a white coffin, wearing his military uniform. — LBG, GMA News