Duterte visits Henry Sy wake

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte paid his respects to the late retail tycoon Henry Sy Sr. last Sunday.

Palace photos released yesterday showed Duterte chatting and shaking hands with Sy’s daughter, Teresita Sy-Coson, at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City. The President was also seen viewing Sy’s casket with the late business icon’s children.

Cabinet members who accompanied Duterte at the wake were presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr.

Also in the photos were Quezon City 4th District Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and former presidential aide Christopher Go.

Sy, the Philippines’ richest man, passed away in his sleep early Saturday morning. He was 94. He was chairman emeritus of SM Investments Corp., SM Prime Holdings Inc., SM Development Corp., Highlands Prime Inc. and BDO Unibank Inc.

In an earlier statement, Malacañang called Sy “a visionary and a pillar of the Philippine economy” who “believed in the potentials and opportunities of the country and pursued them with dedication, passion and hard work.”

“Mr. Sy exemplified the hardworking Filipino. As a family man, he had molded his children into his own image: humble, hardworking and a man of prophetic vision,” Panelo said in a statement issued last Saturday.