PNoy visits wake of ex-LTO chief Virgie Torres

President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday afternoon personally condoled with the family of former Land Transportation Office (LTO) chief Virginia Torres, who died Saturday due to cardiac arrest.

The wake is being held at Torres' residence in Paniqui, Tarlac, also the home province of the Aquino clan.

According to the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), Aquino arrived at 3 p.m. He stayed for 20 minutes and had a chat with the Torres family.

Torres, known to be a close friend of President Aquino, was involved in a controversy with the Bureau of Customs (BOC) last year, after she supposedly dropped Aquino’s name in an attempt to facilitate the release of a seized shipment of sugar.

Torres, 62, retired in October 2013, after 33 years in government service.

She suffered a heart attack and died at 2 a.m. on Saturday at The Medical City - Clark in Pampanga.

Aquino was informed of Torres’ death while he was vacationing at the Presidential Mansion in Baguio City, where he spent New Year’s Eve.

Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma, Jr., who also attended the wake, said Aquino extended his sympathy and condolences to the "family of a fellow public servant who had devoted more than three decades of her life to government service."

Torres will be laid to rest on January 9 at the Lapaz Memorial Park in Lapaz, Tarlac.— Kathrina Charmaine Alvarez/RSJ, GMA News