Passing of Senate ‘Scrooge’ mourned

MANILA, Philippines - Former senator Joker Arroyo had asked his family not to make a fuss in case he died because he was no longer a public official.

As Congress went into recess yesterday, the Senate had not placed the Philippine flag at half-mast as is customary when mourning the death of a colleague.

Neither were there honors prepared for the man who was a key figure in the EDSA People Power Revolution in 1986 and who held the “Mr. Scrooge of Philippine Congress” title in the 21 years he served as congressman and senator.

But Arroyo’s friends and colleagues, the leaders of the country and netizens cannot help but pay tribute to the great man that he was, remembering him as a “brilliant statesman,” “a patriot,” “human rights defender” and “dear friend.”

Arroyo’s friend, former senator Rene Saguisag, confirmed that Arroyo died last Monday after an unsuccessful heart surgery in the United States. He was 88.

“I read from my emails that the operation did not succeed. It’s difficult to believe it. He was so strong, young-looking. It was a shocker,” Saguisag told radio dzBB.

Saguisag also admitted that Arroyo’s family wanted to keep his demise under wraps. For this reason, Malacañang decided to hold in abeyance its expression of condolences until the family of Arroyo confirms his death.

In social media, condolences also poured in. Netizens said Arroyo’s death is “truly a loss to the Philippines.”

“Once upon a time only respectable people with qualifications like those of Joker Arroyo aspired for a seat in the Philippine Senate,” @Doc4Dead tweeted.

“I always admired the way Joker Arroyo thinks as a statesman. He was brilliant. God bless his soul,” Twitter user @jrsalaveria said.

Netizens also remembered Arroyo as a senator-judge during the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada at the Senate.

“He was one of the best legal eagles during his time,” @nicodimal said.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said he would have done anything, including ordering the Philippine flag lowered to half-mast, but he felt awkward because the Arroyo family has not officially announced the death.

Drilon recounted that Arroyo “was very conscious that he was in public service and he was very careful with the way he projected himself.”

“I have worked with Sen. Joker Arroyo both in the Cabinet and in the Senate and I have always known him to be a brilliant lawyer, as somebody who takes strong advocacies. Here in the Senate, he was one of the most frugal,” he added.

Arroyo was dubbed as the Scrooge of Congress because he was very judicious and transparent in the use of public funds.

Arroyo was known to personally open and lock his office at the House of Representatives and later at the Senate every day because he refused to hire a full staff to save government much needed funds.

Sen. Ralph Recto and former senator Manny Villar, of the so-called Wednesday Group at the Senate, extolled Arroyo for his life’s achievements.

“Joker stood by his belief with the tenacity of a wild bear. To understand Joker is to understand the wind and the mist. He was always maverick,” Villar said. “He would be leaving behind a nation that still suffers from the same problems that he liked to rant about with fierce dedication. And now he left us to all these. Perhaps, the joke is now on us.”

“When he arrived at the Senate, he already had a life’s worth of achievements, great victories he won without wearing the mantel of parliamentary immunity. This country owes much of its freedom to him, as do hundreds whose liberty he secured,” Recto said.

Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he and Arroyo got along well when they worked together at the Senate during the 15th Congress.

“Sen. Joker and I, despite where we came from and that he strongly opposed my father in the time of my father’s presidency, we found a very close working relationship in the Senate, and I dare say we became friends and I am very sad by this incident,” Marcos said.

Vice President Jejomar Binay also mourned the death of Arroyo, saying “the death of Joker leaves me a deep sense of personal loss.”

Binay and Arroyo were part of the Free Legal Assistance Group (FLAG) and Movement of Attorneys for Brotherhood, Integrity and Nationalism Inc. (MABINI).

“Together we defended former senator Benigno Aquino, Jr. when he was tried before the military tribunal during martial law,” the Vice President recounted.

Arroyo also served as representative of Makati City’s first district from 1992 to 2001. He was senator from 2001 to 2013.

Arroyo played a big role in rebuilding the nation from the ashes of the dictatorship and has helped rebuild Makati City from a debt-ridden municipality to a model of public service and pro-poor governance.

“The city government and the people of Makati will forever be grateful to former senator Arroyo, who was among the pillars of the city’s transformation into the thriving financial center that it is today,” Makati Mayor Romulo Peña said. With Jess Diaz, Helen Flores, Mike Frialde, Paolo Romero, Delon Porcalla, Charmie Joy Pagulong