TABUK CITY, Kalinga – Residents of this province from all walks of life have been visiting the residence of the late congressman Manuel Agyao in Bulanao Norte, this city, to pay their last respects since his body was brought home on June 26.
Agyao succumbed to acute pneumonia and multiple organ failure at the Far Eastern University Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation (FEU NRMF) in Quezon City at 5:30 AM of June 22 ending his nearly three-year battle against cancer. He was 76.
Agyao racked up a long list of accomplishments for the province while working in the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and later in Congress from 1968 to June 2016 when he finished his last term as congressman.
Other areas in the country also benefitted from his brand of public service because Agyao had served as district engineer of Apayao and Benguet, as regional director of the DPWH-CAR and as assistant secretary of the DPWH.
Agyao was honored as “Most Outstanding Regional Director” in 2002.
Incumbent Congressman Allen Jesse Mangaoang said that as a congressman from 2007 to 2016, Agyao authored and successfully sponsored laws creating 21 new or independent secondary schools, an additional regional trial court and a second Kalinga engineering district in Pasil, converting the Kalinga-Apayao State College (KASC) into a university and a law declaring Kalinga as a Tourism Development Area (TDA).
Former KASC Board of Regent member Natividad Sugguiao said that in working for the passage of the law converting the college into the Kalinga State University, Agyao displayed the “perseverance and patience of our ancestors that he did not falter until it became a law.”
“He left a legacy to the Kalinga people that not even the strongest typhoon or earthquake can destroy, an institution of learning where minds are molded to become good citizens of the country,” Sugguiyao added.
Lawyer Errol Comafay, legal counsel of the environmental advocate Kalinga Anti-pollution Action Group (KAPAG), said that Republic Act No. 10561 which declared the entire province of Kalinga as a TDA “highlights the need to protect the ecology of the province and for sustainable eco-tourism.”
“He had a foresight to realize that the province’s development cannot be dependent on destructive exploitation of our non-renewable resources,” Comafay said.
First assistant secretary from Kalinga
Francis Almora, director of law enforcement services of the Land Transportation Office who served as the chief of staff of Agyao while the latter was DPWH assistant secretary, said that Agyao’s ascension to the position was a proof of his competence as civil engineer, manager and leader.
Almora said that Agyao had bested “|more politically-connected” candidates to the position which incidentally earned him also the distinction as the first Cordillera assistant secretary in the DPWH and likewise the first Kalinga resident to ascend to cabinet rank.
Almora said that among the highlights of Agyao’s stint as assistant secretary was the completion of all projects under the Rural Road Network Development Program for Luzon, the streamlining of the procedures and processes of the construction of school buildings all over the country and his key role in the finalization of the plans of the toll roads specifically the SCTEX and TPLEX and likewise the various bypass roads all over the country.
Background
Agyao was born on December 8, 1941 in Lubuagan, Kalinga where he also finished his elementary and secondary education at St. Theresita’s School as a consistent honor student.
He took his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of Santo Tomas graduating in 1965 passing the board examinations the same year.
He completed his Master of Public Administration at the University of St. Louis Tuguegarao in 1994 and had a Career Executive Service Officer 2 eligibility.
Before he began his career in public service as an Associate Civil Engineer in the DPWH, he worked for the AG & P Co. as resident engineer.
Battle with cancer
Daughter Carol, a medical doctor, informed that her father’s uphill battle with illness started in July 2015 while serving his third term as congressman when he was diagnosed with a tumor in his right kidney. He underwent an operation for the removal of the kidney.
She said that at the time of the operation, the solon’s left kidney was only 80 percent functional and in the months that followed, the functionality of the organ gradually diminished due to his failure to abide by the diet prescribed by the doctors.
She said that when the functionality of her father’s kidney dropped to 10 percent in April 2017, he started undergoing dialysis.
She said that her father was well enough for the celebration of his and wife Josephine’s 50th wedding anniversary on August 31, 2017, his last public appearance.
Last December, the former solon almost died of pneumonia but recovered partially.
At the end of last March, Agyao developed weakness in his right foot and arm which an MRI would reveal was caused by bleeding in the brain due to a tumor.
Carol said that unknown to the doctors who operated on his kidney in 2015, cancer cells had already spread to his brain and lungs.
Carol said that the family exhausted all remedies to contain the tumor by having him undergo Gamma Knife procedure.
Due to his weakened immune system, the former solon was brought to the hospital for acute pneumonia on June 15.
Aside from wife Josephine and Carol, the late solon is survived by children Gwen Gabit, medical doctor, Hazel Guzman and Lorelie Lombardo, both nurses, and Manuel Jr., a member of the US Navy, 14 grandchildren and brother Daniel, a retired teacher.
The former solon would be brought to his final resting place on July 2.**By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
