Malacañang, gov’t officials mourn ex-Senator Herrera’s death

(Updated 9:55 a.m.) Malacañang and government officials mourned the death of former Senator Ernesto “Boy” Herrera, who passed away Thursday at the age of 73. 

 

“We join the nation in mourning the death of former Senator Ernesto “Boy” Herrera. He served the country with distinction as a legislator, trade union leader, and as a human rights advocate, for which he also received international recognition,” Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr. said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay also remembered Herrera as a man who “led a life dedicated to the cause of the labor movement and the welfare of the common worker.”

Senate President Franklin Drilon referred to Herrera as a friend and said in a statement, "I join the whole nation in mourning the passing of a friend and an esteemed colleague, former Senator Ernesto 'Boy' Herrera."

 

Herrera died at the Makati Medical Center due to cardiac arrest.

 

Herrera, who served in the Senate from 1987 to 1998, also became the district representative of Bohol from the 8th to 10th Congress. He was the primary author of Republic Act 6715, which amended the Labor Code in 1989.

 

Herrera gained prominence as a member of the Agrava fact-finding board that investigated the August 1983 assassination of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., father of incumbent President Benigno Aquino III.

Binay said as a member of the Agrava commission, Herrera defied expectations by voting to prosecute Fabian Ver and ranking AFP officers for the murder of Ninoy Aquino. As a legislator, he made his mark as one of the first to speak against the drug menace and the complicity of men in uniform in the drug trade.

“Boy Herrera served the workers and the nation unselfishly and undeterred by his polio. He stands tall in the pantheon of great Filipinos,” Binay said in a press statement Friday. 

 

Herrera was the only Filipino member of the executive board of the International Federation of Free Trade and Union in Brussels, Belgium, from 1988 to 1992. He also served as a consultant on worker’s education of the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland, and headed the the Worker’s Delegation to the 75th Session of the ILO.