Miriam says goodbye to ‘best friend’ Flavier

National Epidemiology Center head Dr. Enrique Tayag posted his farewell as well.
 

"Farewell former @DOHgovph #secretary #JuanFlavier #senatorPh #letsdohit," he said.

Senate mourns loss

For his part, Senate President Franklin Drilon, who worked with the late Juan Flavier, both in the Cabinet and the Senate, mourned losing a friend.

"While the country has lost a statesman who achieved greatness in dedicating his entire life to public service, I have lost a dear friend," Drilon said in a press statement.

He honored Flavier for  being a humble and simple man and servant of the people.

"Senator Flavier’s humility and simplicity defined him. He was a doctor who shunned the lure of a financially rewarding private practice to be a 'Doctor to the Barrios'," he said.

Drilon said Flavier continued his selfless ways by joining public service as a Secretary of Health who bravely campaigned for his advocacies, and as a Senator who placed the interest of the Filipino people above all else.

"That was JMF or Johnny, who I came to know—a man whose integrity and devotion to duty only a few can match," he said.

"On behalf of the Senate, I extend our condolences to the family of Johnny," said Drilon.

Meanwhile, former Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. — a Senate president while Flavier was a senator — called the former lawmaker "a heroic icon in the struggle to inform [the] public of the deadly menace of cigarette smoking."

"Against tremendous odds, he succeeded in requiring [cigarette] packets to carry the warning of the toxic effects of smoking," Pimentel said in a press statement.