Camarines Norte Rep. Elmer Panotes, 75, succumbs after cancer battle

(Updated 6:28 p.m.) Camarines Norte Rep. Elmer Panotes died Wednesday afternoon after a long battle with prostate cancer. He was 75.

 

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II said Panotes died at 2:10 p.m. The lawmaker’s chief of staff, Roger Panotes, said he died at his residence in Don Antonio, Quezon City. 

 

He was the second member of the 16th Congress to die in office. Earlier this year, Tarlac Rep. Enrique Cojuangco died due to aneurysm.

 

The lawmaker is survived by his wife, Marisol and daughter, Rosemarie.

 

A member of the Nacionalista Party, Panotes had served as a vice chairperson of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

 

He started his career in politics as a board member of the provincial government of Camarines Norte from 1972 to 1980. In 1986, he was appointed vice governor of the province and served for a year.

 

From 1992 to 2001, Panotes served as mayor of Daet, Camarines Norte. After a three-year break, he was reelected to the post in 2004.

 

Panotes won the congressional race in 2010 against Liberal Party stalwart Liwayway Vinzons-Chato. 

 

He holds a degree in accounting from the Far Eastern University, and a law degree from the University of the East. — Xianne Arcangel/JST/RSJ, GMA News