REMONDE

President Arroyo is expected to confer posthumously the highest state award on the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde this Thursday in Malacañang.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said the special citation for Remonde was in appreciation of his dedicated public service in recent years.

Ermita, however, refused to identify which prestigious award will be bestowed on Remonde, who died lastTuesday from heart failure.

The remains of Remonde will be brought to Malacañang on Thursday before they are flown to Cebu on Friday.

A simple awarding ceremony has been arranged for the late government official in the Palace.

Malacañang is still in grief over the sudden death of Remonde with flags flown at half-mast and black cloth placed on doorways. Even the eighth anniversary of Mrs. Arroyo's swearing-in as President after the second EDSA People Revolution went unnoticed in the Palace.

At the annual Vin d’Honneur for the diplomats, government leaders, and businessmen in the Palace, President Arroyo asked her guests to observe a moment of silent prayer for Remonde.

“Please join me first in a moment of silent prayer for the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who passed away yesterday,” she said at the start of her speech.

Papal Nuncio Edward Joseph Adams, the dean of the diplomatic corps, also offered the group’s sympathies to the loved ones of Remonde.

“In behalf of my colleagues in the diplomatic corps and myself, I would like to offer heartfelt condolences to Your Excellency at the sudden death of your press secretary, Mr. Cerge Remonde,” Adams said.

“May the Almighty comfort his family to enable them to bear with\ so great a loss,” he added.

Former President Fidel Ramos was also saddened by the death of Remonde. The former leader said he met Remonde in Cebu province when he was a “crusading young beat reporter fighting drugs, organized crime, and loose firearms for which Cebu was famous.”

Even in his last hours on earth, Remonde remained a steadfast defender of the President as shown in his last column posted at the OPS website.

The column, entitled “Just Look Around You,” was submitted before his death last Tuesday, according to an editor of the OPS website.

Remonde was rushed to the Makati

Medical Center after he was found not breathing in the bathroom of his residence in Makati. He was 51.