A FEW days after withdrawing his certificate of candidacy for president, Party-list Rep. Roy V. Señeres of OFW Family Club died of heart failure owing to complications from diabetes on Monday.
Señeres, 68, served as Philippine Ambassador and attaché to the United Arab Emirates from 1994 to 1998; chairman of the National Labor Commission from 2002 to 2005; and member of the House representing the OFW party-list group in 2013.
Señeres, born in Mambusao, Capiz, on July 6. 1947, was a lawyer by profession. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1967 and law degree at San Beda College in 1971.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., in a statement, said, “We are saddened by the untimely passing of our colleague Roy V. Señeres this [Monday] morning at the age of 68.”
“He is a great loss to our overseas Filipino workers’ community having spent most of his life to champion their concerns, as well as those of the labor sector,” Belmonte added.
“In behalf of my colleagues at the House of Representatives and of my family, I extend my sympathy and prayers to Roy’s loved ones and offer our great respect and gratitude for his unwavering dedication and sincere service to our nation onto the very end,” Belmonte added.
On Friday Señeres announced that he is withdrawing from the presidential race, saying his physician advised him to avoid stress to prevent the complications in his long-standing battle with diabetes.
“I wish to inform you all that after much thought and prayers to God Almighty, I am hereby announcing my withdrawal from the Philippine presidential race,” Señeres said.
Statements of condolences poured after news of Señeres’s death was announced.
Nationalist People’s Coalition Rep. Rodolfo Albano of Isabela said: “I join the nation, Congress and the Señeres family in mourning the demise of Roy V. Señeres.
“I consider the late congressman a champion of the rights and welfare of Filipino migrants.
“I am saddened by the demise of the esteemed and respected colleague and legislator who had worked hard to uphold and protect the rights of migrant, and even local, Filipino workers.”
Malacañang also extended its condolences to the family of Señeres.
“Nakikiramay kami sa kanyang pamilya. Siya ay nagtaguyod sa kapakanan ng mga manggagawa bilang tagapangulo ng NLRC [National Labor Relations Commission] at nang itinalaga siya sa Gitnang Silangan bilang Ambassador. [We condole with his family. He promoted workers’ welfare as head of NLRC and when he was appointed as Ambassador to the Middle East],” Communications Secretary Herminio B. Coloma Jr. said.
Señeres’s son, RJ, said his father died at around 8:07 a.m.
He said the former ambassador to the United Arab Emirates had been suffering from diabetes and was confined at a hospital in January.