Rodel Batocabe: Outstanding student, prolific lawmaker

His term as party-list lawmaker may have been cut short, but Ako Bicol party-list Representative Rodel Batocabe's time as public servant is as fruitful as his life had been.

Batocabe, who hails from Daraga, Albay, had been serving as representative of the Ako Bicol party-list, a regional party promoting the welfare and interests of the residents of Bicol Region, since the 15th Congress.

He was already serving his third and last term in the House of Representatives with his fellow Ako Bicol party-list Representatives Alfredo Garbin Jr. and Christopher Co —all elected lawmakers after their party garnered more than 1,600,000 votes in the 2016 polls.

But after he attended a gift-giving event in Albay on Saturday afternoon, tragedy struck as Batocabe was shot dead by unknown assailants, along with his police escort, Senior Police Officer 1 Orlando Diaz.

Student days

Batocabe himself was an outstanding student, graduating valedictorian from Aquinas University Science Oriented High School and finishing his degree in Economics and Bachelor of Laws from the University of the Philippines Diliman both with honors, according to his party's website.

He also finished his master's degree in Public Administration from the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance.

While studying law, Batocabe worked as a researcher and later, a Legislative Staff Chief at the House of Representatives. He was also a lawyer by profession.

Congress

In the 17th Congress, Batocabe served as vice chairperson of the House Committees on Dangerous Drugs, Good Government and Public Accountability, and Natural Resources.

He was also a member of the Committees on Constitutional Amendments, Energy, Games and Amusements, Health, Housing and Urban Development, Legislative Franchises, Tourism, Transportation, Ways and Means, and Accounts.

Aside from this, Batocabe is the incumbent president of the Party-List Coalition Foundation, an organization of 44 party-list lawmakers in the House of Representatives.

He was also a member of the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development, and Global Legislators Organization.

During his short-lived term as lawmaker in the present Congress, Batocabe pushed for a number of measures which are both of national and local importance. All in all, he has principally authored around 250 measures in the 17th Congress alone.

Among his priority measures are:

• House Bill 132 (Establishment of Drug Rehabilitation Centers in Every Legislative District of the Country)
• House Bill 133 (Enhancing the National Integrated Protected Areas System)
• House Bill 134 (Strengthening the Party-list System)
• House Bill 135 (Establishment of Crematories in Every Legislative District of the Country)
• House Bill 136 (Reducing the Optional Retirement Age to 56 Years Old)
• House Bill 523 (Establishing the Filipino Identification System)
• House Bill 524 (Mandatory PhilHealth Coverage for All Persons with Disabilities)
• House Bill 525 (Magna Carta of Agriculture and Fishery Development Workers)
• House Bill 526 (Abolition of the Irrigation Service Fees imposed on Farmers)
• House Bill 527 (Establishing the National Coastal Greenbelt Program)
• House Bill 528 (Amending the Corporation Code of the Philippines)
• House Bill 529 (Reducing the Senior Citizen Age from 60 to 56)
• House Bill 530 (Rural Employment Assistance Program)
• House Bill 531 (Regulating Products with High Sodium Content)
• House Bill 532 (Regulating Electronic Smoking Devices)

As his term as lawmaker is about to end, Batocabe intended to continue serving the people by seeking the mayoralty post in Daraga, Albay in the 2019 elections.

Remembered

News of Batocabe's death came as a shock to his friends and colleagues in Congress, who were quick to denounce the killing and offered their condolences to his family.

Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, for one, condemned the sudden passing of the lawmaker, whom she said was her "ally and friend."

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Rolando Andaya, who is also from the Bicol Region, said the late congressman was "a man of peace and a visionary for progress."

But no one experienced pain about Batocabe's death more than his wife, Gertie, who said her husband was killed on their wedding anniversary.

In a Facebook post on Saturday, Gertie said her Batocabe was supposed to pick her up at 4 p.m. to celebrate their wedding anniversary, but instead she got a call about her husband's murder.

Gertie then posted a series of photos taken during a vacation with Batocabe.

"I will always have these in my heart, despite how busy you were, for my 50th birthday you took me to a place off-grid just to strike it off my bucketlist. I will never understand your world. Come back in my dreams Bá. Thank you my love," she said.

Batocabe may have died a tragic death, but his fellow lawmakers believe that his legacy and advocacy, which is education for all, will live on.

"Making quality education  accessible to all, especially the masses, should not only be an advocacy of Ako Bicol but must be its continuous and  firm commitment so long as there are still people hoping and dreaming to escape from the clutches of poverty," Batocabe once said. —KG/LBG, GMA News