Marcos' former deputy housing minister dies at 71

Former Marcos-era deputy housing minister Jose Conrado “Jolly” Benitez passed away at the Makati Medical Center early Sunday morning. He was 71.

 

Benitez's death was confirmed by Ethel Mendiola, the media relations officer of his son, Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo “Albee” Benitez. She said the former minister died of multiple organ failure.

 

Mendiola said Benitez's remains have been cremated. His ashes will be brought to the Capilla del Señor, Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati at 7 p.m. Sunday.

 

Aside from serving as deputy to Human Settlements Minister Imelda Marcos, Benitez was also the president of the Marcos administration's housing project, Bliss Development Corporation, and the secretary general of the Kilusang Kabuhayan at Kaunlaran.

 

Following his stint in the Marcos administration, Benitez served as president of the family-owned Philippine Women's University for over a decade until turning over the school's reins to his son, Jose Francisco “Kiko” B. Benitez.

 

In 2013, Philippine Star columnist Butch Dalisay wrote that the elder Benitez had suffered a “debilitating kidney disease” but was given a new lease on life because of a kidney transplant.

 

Dailsay quoted Benitez as saying that some of the initiatives which began during his tenure at the MHS “remain as relevant as ever.”

 

“They include the establishment and organization of a mass housing system, involving a financial saving system (PAGIBIG), the Home Guaranty Corporation (HGC), the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation, (NHMFC), and so on, although one would wish that the various housing agencies would operate like a symphony rather than competing and sometimes working at cross-purposes,” Benitez said.

 

The former housing minister was previously married to the late Betty Bantug Benitez, with whom he has two sons, Albee and Kiko.

 

He is survived by his two sons, his second wife, investment banker Joanne de Asis, and their daughters Gaia and Jana. — Xianne Arcangel/JDS, GMA News