Blas Ople

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Blas F. Ople
President of the Senate of the Philippines
In office 1999 – 2000
Preceded by	Marcelo Fernan
Succeeded by	Franklin Drilon
Senator of the Philippines
In office 1992 – 2002 (resigned)
Secretary of Foreign Affairs
In office 2002 – 2003
Preceded by	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (acting)
Succeeded by	Franklin Ebdalin (acting)
Secretary/Minister of Labor
In office 1967 – 1986
Preceded by	Emilio Espinosa, Jr.
Succeeded by	Augusto Sanchez
Born	February 3, 1927(1927-02-03) Hagonoy, Bulacan, Philippines
Died	December 14, 2003 (aged 76) Taoyuan County, Taiwan
Resting place	Libingan ng mga Bayani 14°31′16″N 121°2′34″E / 14.52111, 121.04278
Birth name	Blas Fajardo Ople
Nationality	Filipino
Political party	Kilusang Bagong Lipunan
Other political affiliations	Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino
Spouse	Susana Ople
Alma mater	Quezon College
Occupation	journalist

Blas F. Ople (Filipino: Ople;ˈɔːplɛ; February 3, 1927 – December 14, 2003) was a Filipino journalist and politician who held several high-ranking positions in the executive and legislative branches of the Philippine government, including as Senate President from 1999 to 2000, and as Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 2002 until his death. Perceived as a leftist-nationalist at the onset of his career in public service, Ople was, in his final years, a vocal supporter for allowing a limited United States military presence in the Philippines, and for American initiatives in the War on Terror including the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Ople's most enduring role perhaps was his nineteen years as Secretary (later Minister) of Labor and Employment during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, during which time Philippine labor laws were overhauled through the enactment of the Labor Code of the Philippines, which he had helped author.

[edit] Early life and career

Ople was born in Hagonoy, Bulacan. He graduated valedictorian of his grade school class at the Hagonoy Elementary School in 1941. Upon the invasion of the Philippines by Japan during World War II, the teenaged Ople joined the guerilla movement and fought under the Del Pilar Regiment and the Buenavista Regiment of the Bulacan Military Area founded by Alejo Santos.^[1]

In 1948, he finished his high school at the Far Eastern University. He pursued a degree in liberal arts at the Educational Center of Asia (formerly Quezon College) in Manila. After graduation, Ople pursued a career in journalism. He became a desk editor at the Daily Mirror and the author of its Jeepney Tales column. Still in his twenties, Ople was one of the youngest newspaper columnists of that era.^[1] Ople also established a public relations firm.^[1]

Ople soon became known for his nationalist views. He co-founded the Kilusang Makabansa, an organization which frequently spoke out on issues of nationalism and social justice in the 1950s.^[1] In 1954, he joined the government of President Ramon Magsaysay as special assistant to the Secretary of Labor and technical assistant on labor and agrarian affairs.

[edit] Minister of Labor

In 1965 Ople was appointed as Social Security Commissioner by President Ferdinand E. Marcos. In 1967, he was appointed Secretary of Labor and Employment (in 1978, the position was renamed Minister of Labor and Employment). He resigned briefly in 1971 to run an unsuccessful campaign for election to the Philippine Senate, but was re-appointed to his post in 1972, and retained the position until 1986. At the time of his appointment, Ople was perceived as a "leftist Nationalist".^[2] His leftist credentials were enhanced when he co-founded, in 1972, the Philippine-Soviet Friendship Society.^[3]

As Labor Secretary, Ople was instrumental in the framing of the Labor Code of the Philippines, which codified the labor laws of the country and introduced innovations such as prohibiting the termination of workers without legal cause. Ople instituted labor policies institutionalizing the technical education of workers. In 1976, Ople initiated a program for the overseas employment of Filipino workers. It was during his tenure at Labor that the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration were created.^[1]

Ople would obtain recognition from the International Labor Organization during his stint as Labor Minister. In 1975, he was elected president of the 60th general assembly of the ILO, the first Filipino to hold that post. In 1983, that organization would award Ople a Gold Medal of Appreciation.^[1]

Ople was a close adviser of President Marcos, though he would not be associated with the corruption of Marcos's government and was himself perceived as "not corrupt".^[4] He created international headlines in December of 1984 when admitted to the press that the lupus-stricken Marcos was incapacitated to the point of being unable "to take major initiatives", and that the President's illness had placed the Philippines in "a kind of interregnum".^[4][5] Marcos responded a few days later by baring his chest to his Cabinet before television cameras to dispel rumors that he was seriously ill or had undergone surgery.^[6]

In 1978, Ople was elected an Assemblyman of the Interim Batasang Pambansa representing Central Luzon, and he would be reelected in 1984. During the 1986 presidential elections, Ople served as a political campaign manager of President Marcos, who was running against Corazon Aquino. Shortly before the outbreak of the 1986 People Power Revolution, Marcos dispatched Ople to Washington D.C. to lobby the American government in behalf of the President. Ople was in Washington D.C. upon the outbreak of the revolt, and was advised by U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz to call on Marcos to resign.^[7] Ople publicly reiterated his support for Marcos in the American media in such fora as on This Week with David Brinkley.

[edit] Senator

Following the success of the People Power Revolution and the installation to the presidency of Corazon Aquino, Ople was relieved of his Cabinet post. Ople returned to the Philippines and immediately attempted to position himself as the leader of the political opposition against Aquino.^[8] Nonetheless in May of 1986, Ople accepted an offer by President Aquino to serve in the Constitutional Commission that drafted a new Philippine Constitution.^[1]

In the 1987 congressional elections, Ople ran a second time for the Philippine Senate, under the banner of the pro-Marcos Grand Alliance for Democracy coalition. He was defeated in this attempt, and returned to private life, serving as chairman of the Institution for Public Policy, a policy research institute.^[1] In 1992, he ran again for the Senate under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino. He was elected to a six-year term, and would win re-election in 1998, under the Laban ng Makabayang Masang Pilipino.

In the Senate, Ople served as Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and on the Commission of Appointments. He became Senate President Pro-Tempore in 1998. In 1999, upon the resignation of the terminally-ill Marcelo Fernan, Ople became the Senate President. In that capacity, he was a key proponent of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement between the Philippines and the United States, which allowed American forces to enter the Philippines for short-term training exercises.^[9] He yielded the Senate presidency in 2000 to Franklin Drilon. Later that year, he sat as one of the senator-judges in the impeachment trial of his ally, President Joseph Estrada. He was one of the eleven votes during the trial that successfully voted to not to open the contents of an envelope that was believed to contain proof of the corruption charges against Estrada.^[10] The Senate vote triggered the EDSA Revolution of 2001, leading to the ouster of Estrada and the accession of Vice-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the presidency.

[edit] Secretary of Foreign Affairs

In July of 2002, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Ople, a member of the political opposition in the Senate, as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in her cabinet. The appointment was with some controversy. Weeks earlier, Arroyo's hand-picked Vice-President Teofisto Guingona had resigned as Foreign Affairs Secretary after voicing disagreement with the plan of the Philippine and United States governments to allow American troops to help combat Islamic terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf as part of the post-9/11 "War on Terror".^[11] Ople, who had earlier been a vocal supporter of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement, was perceived to be more amenable to the plan. In addition, left-wing labor activists denounced the appointment of Ople, citing his Marcos-era role in promoting overseas employment of Filipino workers which, they said, had resulted in abuses inflicted on Filipino workers abroad.^[9]

During his stint as Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Ople was at the forefront of the negotiations that led to the deployment of American military forces inside the Philippines, though he insisted that the American troops would not participate in combat missions.^[12] Under his watch, the American and Filipino governments signed an agreement that provided immunity to each other's citizens facing charges before international tribunals such as the International Criminal Court.^[13] Ople was also a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, and pushed for the deployment of a small Filipino contingent in Iraq.^[14] He predicted in November of 2003, "Baghdad will be transformed from a symbol of brutal despotism to a new, shining symbol of human freedom. The sacrifices invested in the liberation of Iraq, to which Filipinos made a significant contribution, will be fully vindicated and cherished for all time."^[15]

[edit] Death

Gravesite of Blas Ople at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

In the months prior to his death, Ople, a longtime chain smoker, had suffered from ill health and often attended international conferences in a wheelchair.^[16] On the night of December 13, 2003, Ople fell ill with breathing problems and lost consciousness while aboard a Japan Asia Airways flight from Bangkok to Tokyo.^[14][17][18] The flight was diverted to Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taoyuan County, Taiwan, and Ople was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was initially pronounced dead on arrival, but given medical treatment nonetheless.^[16] Efforts to revive him were futile, and his death on Sunday, December 14, 2003 was announced by his family.^[14][18]

Upon his death, President Arroyo mourned Ople as "an architect of Philippine foreign policy in the finest tradition of enlightened and pragmatic diplomacy",^[18] while U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell hailed him as "one of the pivotal figures of the late Twentieth Century for Philippine history".^[15] More critically, Teddy Casiño, secretary-general of the leftist coalition BAYAN, called Ople a "political chameleon" who "tried to pass himself off as a nationalist but [was] most pro-American".^[17] Nonetheless, Casiño acknowledged that Ople was "a consistent, brilliant and very astute politician."^[17]

Ople was eulogized in Time Magazine, which recalled his erudition, his skill at political survival, and his trademark "extraordinary baritone".^[4] The eulogy also reported that at the height of the People Power Revolution, Ople in Washington, D.C. had reported to Marcos in Manila that the President's support within the Reagan administration was falling. Marcos responded by asking Ople to reach out to his contacts in the Soviet government.^[4] Ople rebuffed Marcos, and as Time noted, declined "to help make the Philippines a Soviet colony three years before the Berlin Wall fell."^[4]

Ople is buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. In 2004, President Arroyo named Ople's daughter Susan as Undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment.^[19]

[edit] In popular culture

A Filipino indie rock band fronted by filmmaker Quark Henares is named Blast Ople, a pun on Ople's name.

[edit] References