FVR condoles with Boncodin family

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Fidel Ramos yesterday condoled with the family of the late budget secretary Emilia Boncodin, who he said “epitomized devotion to duty, unstinted hard work, unquestioned integrity and exemplary humility in public service, a rarity these days and a great loss to our country.”

Boncodin died of cardiac arrest last Monday at the National Institute. She was 55.

Boncodin served as budget undersecretary, then secretary, under the Ramos administration. After June 1998, she returned to teaching at the University of the Philippines.

In 2001, she became budget secretary again under the Arroyo administration and held the position until July 2005, when she resigned, along with nine other cabinet secretaries, to protest President Arroyo’s alleged involvement in election fraud. 

Liberal Party standard Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III said Boncodin had been helping him evaluate the country’s financial situation and he was thinking of naming her to the Cabinet if elected.

Aquino visited Boncodin’s wake at the Resurreccion Chapel in Sta. Maria Della Strada Parish in Quezon City yesterday.     – Aurea Calica