Veteran press undersecretary retires

After working for 42 years at Malacañang and serving six presidents and 15 press secretaries, Press Undersecretary Carmen "Ching" Suva has chosen to retire early.

Suva capped her government service record with the distinction that she first worked at the Palace during the term of the late President Diosdado Macapagal, and retires with Macapagal’s daughter, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as the sitting president.

At age 20 in 1962, Suva first worked at Malacañang as a secretary in the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) then headed by Rufino Hechanova, now deceased.

Suva, who turns 64 next month, opted to advance her retirement after a graft complaint sent in against her by an anonymous phone caller was entertained by the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC). The anonymous call nearly ruined Suva’s untarnished record in office.

No less than four of her former bosses arrived at the Palace yesterday to speak their testimonials to Suva — former press secretaries Hector Villanueva and Ricardo "Dong" Puno, former presidential spokesman Rigoberto Tiglao and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye.

Villanueva was the longest serving press secretary of former President Fidel Ramos. Puno was press secretary during the truncated term of ousted President Joseph Estrada. Tiglao served the shortest stint as press secretary during the Arroyo administration, succeeded by Bunye. Both Tiglao and Bunye moved on to become the President’s spokesmen.

After several Cabinet revamps by Mrs. Arroyo over the past three years, former broadcast executive Milton Alingod became the press secretary and Suva’s last boss.

In brief remarks, Alingod said "Tita Ching" had become so well-liked by all that she "can never be replaced."

On behalf of the OPS, he thanked Suva and expressed hope that she would continue to help the office in the future.

Puno, on the other hand, said Suva "is a Tita to all of us." He noted Suva’s sterling record as a public official who became an oasis of strength and courage for people who knew her.

Villanueva said there were only two people who mattered most in his work as OPS chief — Ramos and Tita Ching. "I don’t think I would have achieved modest success in the OPS without Tita Ching," he said.

It was Suva’s turn to speak out about this "humiliating" accusation by an anonymous caller for the first time after the President accepted her request to retire after being cleared post-haste by the PAGC.

"People subjected to lifestyle checks by the PAGC are unjustly smeared and their lives shattered by the undue and unjust publicity they get," Suva said. "Thought I have been cleared of such accusations in a record time of one month, I sympathize with those who are still going through unjust public scrutiny and ridicule as a result of the unfair exposure of their supposed cases in media."

"I cited the ambivalence I feel in my heart to President Gloria in my letter asking for permission to retire," she said. "I told her I am happy and sad about leaving OPS, my second home for 42 years, but happy that I am now free from the malice of ill-inspired individuals whose only motive is to taint my public life."

"The cases I just hurdled gave me the deepest wounds that I am still nursing up to now — but, whoever were my detractors, I have forgiven them now," Suva said.

Speaking their respective testimonials to Suva, the four former press secretaries were one in saying they, like the media, called her "Tita Ching" out of respect for her stature and in deference to the respect given her by the media.

"We should like to reiterate our thanks to Tita Ching Suva, who is retiring after 42 years of faithful service to the public and we wish her well in her new status," Bunye said. "We’d like to express our appreciation for all the help and cooperation that she extended to our office. So, Tita Ching, we will miss you."

The OPS staff presented a program yesterday chronicling Suva’s career in the Palace, with six of them acting the roles of the six presidents Suva served.

The Malacañang Press Corps or print and broadcast journalists gave their own tribute to Suva and, for once, reporters and politics-savvy Palace staff alike gave free vent to their tears in bidding Suva good-bye and godspeed at her testimonial luncheon.