{"id":1909,"date":"2020-04-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1909"},"modified":"2020-06-12T15:21:59","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T15:21:59","slug":"heherson-sonny-turingan-alvarez-politician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1909","title":{"rendered":"Heherson “Sonny” Turingan Alvarez, politician"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Heherson “Sonny” Turingan Alvarez a politician from the Philippines \u2013 died on April 20, 2020 due to complications from COVID-19.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

He served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and the Senate of the Philippines. He was also Minister (then Secretary) of Agrarian Reform from 1986 to 1987 and Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources from 2001 to 2002.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

He was a young activist who participated in the 1971 constitutional convention. He refused to sign the Ferdinand Marcos regime backed constitution that gave extensions to the president’s term in office. He fled with his family to the US leaving the Philippines behind as martial law took its toll on opposition activists.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

While in exile, he was one of the organizers of the Free Philippines movement that supported his friend and opposition leader, Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. After Aquino was assassinated, the Philippine leadership changed as Corazon Aquino, the wife of Benigno Aquino Jr., took power after the successful “People Power Revolution”. He returned to the Philippines in 1986 to partake in rebuilding the government in the wake of collapse of the Marcos regime. He won a senatorial seat, representing Isabela province’s 4th district, in the post-revolution government of President Corazon Aquino. He served two terms 1987 to 1998 and 1998-2001.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

Senator Alvarez also held two cabinet positions – Secretary of Agrarian Reform (February 7, 1987 \u2013 March 7, 1987) and Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources (March 29, 2001 \u2013 December 13, 2002). He was known as staunch environmentalist as he was called “Mr. Environment” during his term as Environmental Secretary.Moreover, as a senator, he authored the resolution to make April 22 of every year as “Earth Day” in the Philippines.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

Sonny Alvarez studied liberal arts at University of the Philippines. He also earned a master’s degree in Economics and Public Administration from Harvard University.\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

Alvarez married, artist and activist, Cecile Guidote; the couple had two children, Hexilon and Herxilla\r<\/p>

\r<\/p>

Senator Alvarez and wife, Cecile contracted the COVID-19 sometime in March. They were both hospitalized. CNN reported that Heherson Alvarez underwent experimental plasma therapy treatment and blood plasma convalescent therapy. \r<\/p>

<\/p>

<\/p>\n \n \n

<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heherson “Sonny” Turingan Alvarez a politician from the Philippines \u2013 died on April 20, 2020 due to complications from COVID-19. He served as a member of the House of Representatives of the Philippines and the Senate of the Philippines. He was also Minister (then Secretary) of Agrarian Reform from 1986 to 1987 and Secretary of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[47,20,7019],"tags":[6237,6449],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/imageholder\/uploads\/Heherson_Sonny__Turingan_Alvarez.jfif","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4589,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=4589","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":0},"title":"Hector Alvarez, Physician","date":"March 30, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Hector Alvarez \u2013 a Physician at Novaliches District Hospital, Novaliches, Philippines\u2013 passed away due to COVID-19. It was reported on March 30, 2020. Source: UCA News Please help us in adding details.","rel":"","context":"In "Medics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9863,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=9863","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":1},"title":"Antonio Cuenco, politician","date":"June 28, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Antonio \"Tony\" Veloso Cuenco \u2011 a Filipino politician who served as a council member for the 2nd District of the Cebu City Council \u2013 died of Covid-19 on June 27, 2020. He also served as the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) from 2010 to 2013 and as representative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "High Profilers"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11657,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=11657","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":2},"title":"Shinichi Chiba, Actor","date":"August 20, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Japanese actor Shinichi Chiba 82, also known as Sonny Chiba, who dazzled action movie fans in Japan and abroad, died Thursday at a hospital in Chiba Prefecture near Tokyo due to pneumonia associated with COVID-19. Chiba, the Fukuoka native, gained nationwide popularity through his role in the television drama series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Japan"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Shinichi-Chiba.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":649,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=649","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":3},"title":"Dr. Cenover Nicandro \"Nicko\" Bautista , Philippines","date":"May 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Cenover Nicandro \"Nicko\" Bautista, a young doctor helping in the fight against the novel coronavirus was among eight people who died after a plane on a medical evacuation flight caught fire while taking off at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The 33-year-old Bautista was one of the frontliners at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Cenover-Nicandro.jpg?fit=750%2C450&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":662,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=662","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":4},"title":"Dr Francisco Avelino Siy Lukban, Philippines","date":"May 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Francisco Lukban, Cardiologist; Pix credit Inquirer.net Dr. Francisco Lukban was a noted geriatric cardiologist and a brilliant academician, according to the social media post of UP Manila\u2019s Office of the Chancellor announcing his demise on March 25. Always wanting to serve his fellowmen, he was much loved by his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Medics"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Francisco-Avelino-Siy-Lukban.png?fit=1086%2C769&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1362,"url":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/?p=1362","url_meta":{"origin":1909,"position":5},"title":"Dr. Salvacion Rodriguez-Gatchalian, Pediatrician","date":"March 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Salvacion Rodriguez-Gatchalian, a pillar of the Philippines\u2019 Pediatric Infectious Disease medicine and a champion of children\u2019s health had fallen in the battle against the deadly coronavirus, on March 26. Gatchalian was the president of the Philippine Pediatric Society (PPS) that leads training of physicians on child health. She also\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philippines"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6237,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions\/6237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/personmatters.com\/Remembering_Covid_19_Victims\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}