President Benigno S. Aquino III extended his condolences to the family of former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, saying he was shocked by reports of the latter’s apparent suicide.
“Nagulat tayo sa pangyayari at nakikiramay tayo sa pamilya ni Secretary Reyes,” the President said in an ambush interview when he visited the medical and dental missions organized by the Office of the President’s attached agencies in honor of his 51st birthday celebration at the Mendiola parking area on Tuesday.
“I would like to extend my deepest condolences to the family of former Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes,” the President said.
Earlier, Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, likewise expressing his condolences to the family of retired General Reyes, asked the public to “allow his loved ones their grief and privacy.”
Reyes was 65.
Health Secretary Enrique Ona, in a press conference at the Quirino Memorial Hospital, confirmed Reyes died from a gunshot wound to the heart. Reyes was proclaimed dead on arrival at the Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
Ona said Reyes was brought to the hospital at 7:30 a.m. from the Loyola Memorial Park in Marikina City where he visited the grave of his parents.
Reyes, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy Class ’66, was the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines under President Joseph Estrada, and Secretary of Defense, Interior and Local Government, and Energy during the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from 2001 to 2003.
He graduated as class valedictorian in high school and was among the top ten graduates of the PMA.
Reyes obtained two masteral degrees, namely, Masters in Business Administration from Asian Institute of Management in 1973 and a Masters of Public Administration from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1991. He also took up International Defense Management Course in Monterey, California in 1983.
In 1987, he graduated No. 1 in Trust Operations Management Course conducted by the Trust Institutes Foundation of the Philippines at the Ateneo Business School which eventually earned him a scholarship to the Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.
