Top leaders of Negros Occidental paid homage to former governor Daniel “Bitay” Lacson Jr., who passed away due to a lingering illness at his family home here Friday night.
Lacson, 77, was appointed by then-president Corazon Aquino as the post-EDSA governor and went on to lead the province from 1986 to 1992, with the iconic slogan “Hope Shines in Negros.”
He was also chairman of the Philippine National Bank and the Government Service Insurance System.
In a statement on Saturday, Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson said Negros Occidental “has lost a brilliant and well-loved leader.” The governor noted that as the country enters the Christmas season, “we fondly recall the ‘Star of Hope’ that Governor Bitay initiated, bringing new meaning to the traditional parol (lantern).”
Bacolod City Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the Negrenses “lost a true public servant, whose life is worth emulating by the younger generations.”
Former governor Rafael Coscolluela, who served as the vice governor of the late Lacson before succeeding him from 1992 to 2001, called the passing of his predecessor a “sad day for Negros Occidental.”
