Press Release
May 4, 2019

STATEMENT OF SENATOR RICHARD J. GORDON ON THE DEMISE OF FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER PROSPERO C. NOGRALES

I am deeply saddened by the sudden demise of former House Speaker Prospero C. Nograles, who was a very good friend since we were students and dorm mates at the Ateneo de Manila University. He was a hardworking man who worked very hard for his constituents. He was also a brilliant lawyer; he was a Bar topnotcher.

Once again, I lost one of my good friends and I hurt badly. We grew up at a time when there was ferment in the country. Everyone knew what we did not want but the difference was that we both knew what we were going to do for our country and we are still doing it. Even when we both became officials in our respective cities and hardly had time to see each other being in opposite parts of the country, the respect was always there and our friendship remained steadfast.

While he was called Nogie by everyone else, he was simply Boy to me. I remember when he would pass by my room in the dorm on the way to the cafeteria and he would cheerfully call out, 'Gurrdon Dick, kaon ta and I would happily retaliate, 'Sige, Pruspeero kaon tayo.' In later days, we would just had to look at each other and we knew what we will do. He was the president of the Ateneo Junior Jurists Society and we supported each other in our own local endeavors in the student council. He was the 'Big Man from the South.' It was always really fun to listen to his Visayan accent tempered by his Arneow accent. We had happy memories together, not political memories but simply happy memories. My brother, Bong, remembers too how Boy also loved bands, which he already had then.

My heart goes out to his wife Bebet and their children. Boy and Bebet raised wonderful and talented children - Kristine Elizabeth, a medical doctor; Karlo, a lawyer who is a current Cabinet Secretary and who served as Congressman from 2010 to 2018; Jericho, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Partylist Representative; and Margarita Ignacia, who has a bachelor's degree in management economics.

My wife Kate and I, along with my whole family including my brother Bong, share his family's sorrow and we extend our deepest condolences. I will miss Boy sorely. Ad maiorem Dei gloriam!

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