Veteran lawmaker and considered as one of the country’s most prominent politician former Senate Pres. Ernesto Maceda passes away at the age of 81 as confirmed to the media by Jimmy Policarpio, Maceda’s chief of staff for 16 years. The former Senator died due to health complications at around 11:30 AM at St. Luke’s Hospital.
In an interview with dzBB, the chief of staff of the late Sen. Maceda, Policarpio revealed that the senator suffered from a mild stroke two days ago while he was recovering from a gallbladder surgery. He was quoted as saying “Kanina nilagyan siya ng pacemaker. Hindi yata nakayanan kaya nangyari ang hindi inaasahan,” he added.
Maceda was a member of the Senate from 1970 to 1998 and was Philippine ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2001.
Aside from being a lawmaker, Senate Pres. Ernesto Maceda also worked as a columnist and during the year 1959 at the age of 23 he was hailed as the No. 1 councilor of Manila and due to his numerous achievements in the city council he was awarded with the honor as “Outstanding Councilor of Manila.” Sen. Maceda also served under the administration of the late Pres. Ferdinand E. Marcos.
Under the Marcos regime, Ernesto Maceda became the youngest Cabinet Member serving as Presidential Assistant on Community Development during the year 1966. During the year 1969 he was appointed as Executive Secretary in concurrent capacity as Chairman of the Commission on Reorganization.
From being a Marcos ally, Ernesto Maceda became a member of the opposition and eventually became the adviser of the late Sen. Benigno S. Aquino. Following Sen. Aquino’s death, he became one of the leaders of the opposition during the 1984 Batasan Pambansa Campaign and the 1986 snap presidential election.
Sen. Maceda is best known in the Philippines as the senator who exposed the controversial PEA-Amari Deal, the deal involved the acquisition of 158 hectares of reclaimed land on Manila Bay that was to be converted into so-called Freedom Islands. He gained the reputation by the Philippines Free Press as “Mr. Expose.”