Marcos on Ople’s death: It’s a great loss for all of us

STA. ROSA, Laguna — President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. said Tuesday the sudden demise of Migrant Workers Secretary Susan "Toots" Ople is a great loss for the country.

In a chance interview here, Marcos lamented Ople's death, saying that he himself has lost a friend. He also praised Ople's excellent service to the people.

"It's a very very sad news. I have lost a friend. The Philippines has lost a friend. Secretary Ople is a special person with a deep compassion really really for the people that she had cared for, mainly the migrant workers," Marcos said.

"It's a big loss, ang galing galing ni [she's very good] Secretary Toots ... she very much followed in the tradition of the Blas Ople tradition of excellence, of compassion. It is a great loss for all of us, it is great loss for all of us who called her a friend, it is a great loss to the Philippines, to the service that we know she could still have rendered," he added.

In a separate statement, Marcos said the entire country "mourns a great champion for the labor movement in the Philippines."

"She dedicated her life, in every waking moment, to the welfare of laborers in general and migrant workers in particular. She was tireless in her pursuit to always support and find protection for our workers," the President said.

Marcos also said "there cannot be a better example of the perfect mix of compassion and hard-nosed pragmatism than in Toots."

"She got many things done in her years of public service, and all for others, never for herself. I grieve together with her family and all those who called Toots a friend. Our prayers are with you," he said.

For her part, Vice President Sara Duterte said with Ople's death, "[t]he country has lost a real patriot whose life was dedicated to the welfare and protection of the fundamental rights of migrant Filipino workers and their families."

"She was a beacon of hope and a source of strength for migrant workers caught in distressing situations while working abroad," Duterte said. "She will be greatly missed."

DMW spokesperson Toby Nebrida confirmed that Ople died at 1 p.m. today.

"It is with great sadness that the Department of Migrant Workers announces the passing of our dearest Secretary Susan “Toots” Ople. Secretary Toots peacefully joined our Creator at around 1 p.m. today, August 22, 2023 surrounded by her family and loved ones," he said in a statement.

Nebrida asked the public for prayers on Ople's passing.

In late July, Ople took a wellness break to grieve the passing of her two elder brothers, ex-Hagonoy mayor Felix "Toti" Ople and former journalist, Blas Ople Jr., who both succumbed to lung cancer. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News