It is with regret that a letter to the editor I wrote on July 27, 2011 “in defense of Rep. Sonny Escudero” was not published. How I wish he read that letter when he was still alive. Nevertheless, this one is my humble tribute to Sonny.
Sonny was a good man who happened to be my friend. I know this for a fact, in my personal capacity and as former director of Human Resource Development Office of the University of the Philippines.
Before he joined the national government, Sonny was a respected academician in the University of the Philippines. At age 26, as a young faculty member in the College of Veterinary Medicine, S.P. Lopez, then UP president, becoming aware of Sonny’s leadership qualifications and managerial competence, appointed him as dean of the college. This distinction of being the youngest dean remains to this day. Sonny broke the record of Sen. Gil Puyat (later Senate president) who became dean of the UP College of Business Administration at the age of 31.
Besides being a UP graduate (DVM ’67, MPA ’69), Sonny has a Master’s degree in Veterinary Medicine from Queensland University, Australia. He was one of the 10 Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) awardees back in the early 1970s. As director of the Bureau of Animal Industry, he was responsible for the animal dispersal program of the government. He later became deputy minister of agriculture and minister of agriculture.
I understand that Sonny was also the first Bicolano to be appointed into Cabinet, yet he was never arrogant and haughty.
May I take this opportunity to express my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family of Sonny, an outstanding educator/academician, effective administrator and manager, hardworking legislator—and, more importantly, a human being.
—PIO P. FRAGO,
retired director of the
UP Human Resource Development Office,
Quezon City, piofrago@yahoo.com