Dulce Saguisag

In thisPhilippine nameformarried women,the birthmiddle nameor maternalfamily nameisMaramba,the birth surname or paternal family name isQuintans,and themarital nameisSaguisag.

Dulce Q. Saguisag
Dulce Q. Saguisag (second from left) with her husbandRene Saguisag(left)
22ndSecretary of Social Welfare and Development
In office October 12, 2000 – January 19, 2001
President	Joseph Estrada
Preceded by	Gloria Macapagal Arroyo
Succeeded by	Corazon Soliman
Personal details
Born	Dulce Maramba Quintans (1944-09-05)September 5, 1944 Commonwealth of the Philippines
Died	November 8, 2007(2007-11-08)(aged 63) Makati,Philippines
Spouse	Rene Saguisag ​ (m.1970)​
Alma mater	University of the Philippines(BS) Boston College(MSW)

Dulce Maramba Quintans-Saguisag(September 5, 1944 – November 8, 2007) was a Filipino politician and former Secretary of theDepartment of Social Welfare and Developmentunder the administration of former PresidentJoseph Estrada.Saguisag was one of Estrada's elevencabinet memberswho withdrew support for Estrada on January 19, 2001, following accusations of massivecorruptionby the president.Estrada was ousted from office the next day, which is now known in the Philippines asEDSA II.

She also served as the secretary-general of theGymnastics Association of the Philippines. Saguisag was the wife of a formerFilipino SenatorRene Saguisag,who was in office from 1987 to 1992.

Early life

Dulce Saguisag was bornDulce Maramba Quintanson September 5, 1944.She is a descendant of Senator Daniel Maramba fromPangasinan.She received abachelor's degreeinsocial workfrom theUniversity of the Philippines Dilimanand placed third in the country in the 1964 National Board Examination for Social Workers.

She initially began her career as in 1964 at the Social Welfare Administration, which is now called theDepartment of Social Welfare and Development.She held a position of seniorsocial workerat the SWA until 1965, when she became a supervising social worker and community center director.

Saguisag left the Philippines for theUnited Statesin 1967 after winning agrantby theUS State Departmentto observe social work in the country.She was also recruited by the John F. Kennedy War on Poverty program while in the United States.

Saguisag won ascholarshiptoBoston Collegewhere she received a master's degree in social work, with an emphasis oncommunity organizationandsocial planning,in 1969.

She met her future husband,Rene Saguisag,a student atHarvard Law School,while studying at Boston College.The couple had two daughters and three sons during their marriage.Her hobbies included collectingangelandSanta Clausfigurinesandballroom dancingwith her husband.

Career

Upon receiving her master's degree, Saguisag returned to the Philippines. She took a job with theDepartment of Social Welfare and Developmentin 1971.She worked as a social welfare program specialist at the department before being promoted to assistantdirectorof theBureau of Family and Child Welfare.

She left her position with the bureau in order to become dual director ofhuman resourcesdevelopment and director ofmanagementtraining at theDevelopment Academy of the Philippinesin 1976.

Saguisag once again left to take a new position, this time for an organization outside of the Filipino government. In 1984, she took a job with the Mondragon International Philippines, Inc. as amanagerforhuman resource development.She stayed with the company until 1999.She was serving as Mondragon's vice chairperson and deputychief executive officerat the time of her departure.

Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development

Dulce Saguisag was appointed Secretary of theDepartment of Social Welfare and Development(DSWD) byPresidentJoseph Estradain October 2000.Her appointment to Secretary of the DSWD followed the resignation of thenVice Presidentand DSWD SecretaryGloria Macapagal Arroyo.Arroyo had left the Estrada administration over thejueteng scandalwhich had plagued Estrada during his term.Saguisag accepted the Secretary position despite the objections of her husband, Rene Saguisag. He worried that the cabinet position would be too stressful to his wife, who had undergone successfulbreast cancersurgery in 1997.

Saguisag became one of eleven of Estrada's cabinet members who withdrew support for the embattled President on January 19, 2001.Her decision to withdraw her support for the President came after allegations of massive government corruption against Estrada.Estrada was ousted from office the next day on January 20, 2001, which is now known asEDSA IIin the Philippines.(Dulce Saguisag's husband, Rene Saguisag, later became Estrada'sdefense lawyer.)

Death

Dulce Saguisag was killed in a seriouscar accidenton November 8, 2007, onOsmeña HighwayinMakati,while on their way home to Palanan from one of their usual late-night ballroom dancing sessions at Byke's Cafe alongChino Roces Avenue.Her husband,Rene Saguisag,was seriously injured in the accident.Two other people riding in the sameToyota Grandiavan as the Saguisags, including Filipino dance instructor,Rhea Imelda Obong,and driver, Felipe Calvario, were also seriously injured in the accident.All four were rushed to Ospital ng Makati 2 inBel-Air,where Dulce Saguisag was pronounced dead from her injuries.

TheToyotathat Ducle Saguisag was riding in, which was travelling onPasay Road,was struck by adump truckat the corner of the Osmeña Highway in Makati at about 2 A.M.The dump truck had reportedly been speeding when it ran a traffic light and struck the left side of the Saguisags' van, killing Dulce.Police arrested the driver of the dump truck at the scene of the accident.

Dulce Saguisag's funeral was held on November 16, 2007.The service began with a two-hourRoman Catholicmassat thechapelofSt. Scholastica’s CollegeinManila,which Saguisag had attended.The funeral procession then passed Saguisag's "ancestral home" on Bigasan Street in Makati.Dulce Saguisag was buried in the Garden of Reverence section of theManila Memorial Parkcemetery inParañaque.

Three hundred people attended her funeral. Prominent mourners included former Filipino PresidentsCorazon AquinoandJoseph Estrada,Vice PresidentNoli de Castro,San JuanMayorJV Ejercito,andGina de Venecia,the wife of theSpeaker of the Philippine House of RepresentativesJose de Venecia.

After a month, on December 8, 2007, SenatorRene Saguisagwas released from the hospital, freed from tubes, but “still needs assistance by a hired a privatenurse.He lost lots of weight. He was out of theICUon November 28, or 20 days from the fatal accident.Their youngest daughter 16-year-oldgymnastKaissa Saguisag's knee injury ended her quest for gold at the 24thSoutheast Asian Games.

External links

• Philippine Daily Inquirer:Dulce Saguisag, 64Archived2008-02-02 at theWayback Machine
• Philippine Daily Inquirer: Saguisag wife killed in road mishap