Senate pays tribute to Borjal

Taking time out from political bickering with administration senators, Senate President Pro Tempore Blas Ople filed yesterday a resolution paying tribute to the late STAR columnist Art Borjal.

A journalist, lawyer and former congressman, Borjal succumbed to a three-year bout with lung cancer at age 64 last Thursday.

In Senate Resolution No. 365, Ople cited Borjal’s authorship of a landmark measure, Republic Act No. 7277, otherwise known as the Magna Carta for the Disabled, when he was a sectoral member of the House of Representatives during the term of the late Speaker Ramon Mitra Jr.

"I am sure this resolution will receive bipartisan support," Ople said in a statement

He said "three years of anguish and pain caused by cancer could not keep Borjal away from writing his column, meeting deadlines ably and faithfully, as would any professional journalist."

"Art is everyone’s Good Samaritan and we in the Senate mourn his loss. His optimism and zest for life was infectious and he has become an inspiration to all simply by the way he led his life," the veteran lawmaker said.

Ople called on government agencies and commercial establishments to pursue "Borjal’s dream of adequate facilities and easy access for the disabled."

Borjal was involved in numerous charities for the disabled. Borjal, along with STAR founding chairman, the late Betty Go-Belmonte, publisher Max Soliven and Tony Roces, founded The Philippine STAR in July 1986. He had been writing a daily column since 1979. — Aurea Calica