Senator Chiz Escudero on Tuesday (August 22) mourned the passing of Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Susan ‘Toots’ Ople as he extended his condolences to her family.
“My sincerest condolences to the family and loved ones of Secretary Toots. I join the Filipino people in prayers for the eternal repose of her soul. She was my good friend,” Escudero said.
Ople was the goddaughter of the veteran legislator’s father, the late Agriculture Secretary Salvador ‘Sonny’ Escudero.
“Her demise is not only a loss to the Ople family but a big loss to the thousands of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) whose welfare she has been championing even before she was appointed by President Marcos last year as DMW Secretary,” he added.
As the first secretary of the migrant workers department, Escudero said Ople’s accomplishment was remarkable even for a very short period of time that her successor has big shoes to fill.
Prior to her appointment by President Marcos, Ople founded and headed the Blas Ople Policy Center, a non-government organization (NGO) named after her father—the late Senate President and Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Fajardo Ople, who in 1976 initiated overseas employment as labor secretary of Marcos, Sr.
According to a DMW statement, Ople died this afternoon surrounded by family and loved ones.