President Bongbong Marcos said that the late Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Toots Ople is irreplaceable.
Marcos led the necrological service for the late DMW chief in Malacañang on Monday, August 28.
Marcos said that while the Philippines could find someone who could replace Ople as DMW chief, her passion for helping OFWs was truly irreplaceable.
“Iniisip kaagad namin, papano ngayon ‘yung naiwang trabaho ni Toots, sino ang gagawa niyan? Noong una sasabihin kailangan natin siyang palitan, kailangan nating maglagay ng kapalit ngunit habang iniisip ko, hindi na ko natutulog, anong kapalit… wala, hindi na mapapalitan si Toots,” Marcos said.
“Maghanap tayo ng kasing-galing niya pero huwag na tayong umasa na mapalitan si Toots… na substitute na magkakaroon ulit tayo ng Toots na ilalagay ulit natin, bibigyan ulit natin ng pagkakataong magtrabaho, bibigyan ulit natin ng pagkakataon na makatulong sa kaniyang kapwa Pilipino,” he added.
Marcos said that Ople’s passing would leave a big gap into the country’s OFW sector.
“If I do shed a tear, it is because it is such a sad day to know, it is such a sad bit of knowledge to know that Toots will not be here anymore,” Marcos said.
“What a big gap she will leave, not only to her friends, not only to her family, but to the millions who she took care of, who she loved, and who she worked for tirelessly and endlessly,” he added.
Marcos said that he and Ople had a working relationship way back.
“You will understand my emotion, you will understand the great sense of loss that we are feeling and if I shed a tear, it’s because I feel sorry, I do not feel sorry for Toots because after her heart beats its last, her soul went immediately to heaven. And for that I have no doubt,” Marcos said.
“I feel sorry for us, her friends, her family, because we’ve lost a wonderful person, a wonderful friend. I feel sorry for the Filipinos who are living and working abroad because they lost the best champion they ever had,” he added.
Ople’s daughter, Estelle Osorio, thanked President Marcos for the tribute to her mother.
“On behalf of the Ople family, Mr. President, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts because you allow my mom to live her mission, by trusting her with a position despite her illness,” Osorio said.
“She told us po na she wanted to serve you at least until December, she said that if she’s given that time by the Lord, she feels that it would be enough to set the ground work for the Department of Migrant Workers so that whoever will succeed her will not have a hard time,” she added.
Related: Toots Ople wanted cancer fund for OFWs before she died — daughter
