President Arroyo conferred posthumously the Order of Lakandula with a rank of bayani on the late Press Secretary Cerge Remonde on Thursday in recognition of his life as an exemplary media man and a public servant.

In conferring the award, the President thanked Remonde for his meritorious contribution to her administration.

“He reached the peak of journalism. He reached the peak of public service as a Cabinet member so he deserved it all. Cerge gave full of himself for the sake of our country both in government for the last nine years and in media since he was 18 years old,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

Remonde’s remains were brought to Malacañang’s Heroes Hall from the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig. He was accorded with foyer honors and was welcomed by President Arroyo, Malacañang officials and staff and members of the Malacañang Press Corps.

Addressing Remonde's Danish wife, Marit Stinus, his friends and staff, members of the official family and media, the President described Remonde as a “leader,” and a “sensitive person of a very wise counsel.”

“I remembered Cerge interviewed me frequently over the phone in Cebuano when I was still a senator. That exposure helped me because it made many people in the Visayas and Mindanao realize that I spoke Cebuano and culminated in my landslides in 1995, in 1998 and in 2004 in Visayan-speaking provinces in the Visayas and in Mindanao,” she said.

She noted that when she appointed Remonde as Press Secretary in 2009, the latter hesitated to accept it because he didn’t want to leave his family in the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).

“We have been talking about Cerge for days now. We can see how loved he was when he was leaving the PMS. The PMS senior staff were telling me how sad they were to see him go. He himself hesitated to become press secretary; he has given his life for his country and for me, he decided to accept as press secretary. Now he is here with us for the last time in Malacañang. We mourn the loss of a faithful, talented media man and public servant,” a teary-eyed Mrs. Arroyo said.

Remonde, who hailed from Argao, Cebu, was appointed by Mrs. Arroyo in January 2001 as her Press Undersecretary in charge of broadcast. In October 2006, he was named as head of the Presidential Management Staff, three years later he assumed as Mrs. Arroyo’s Press Secretary.

“We will miss you as you have Señor Sto. Niño beside you…we pray that you’re now singing with Señor in heaven. Goodbye, Cerge, rest in peace,” the President said.

The members of the media, Cabinet members, including Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita; and Malacañang officials and staff paid their last respects to the late press secretary who died of cardiac arrest last Tuesday. (Charissa Luci)