President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday paid his respects to the late Quirino Governor Dakila Carlo “Dax” Cua at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City.
Marcos condoled with Quirino Lone District Rep. Midy Cua, his childen, and other family and friends of the late governor, who passed away on September 15 at the age of 48.
“I came to say goodbye to Dax as President, leading the Executive and Cabinet contingent. As a colleague whose work I valued and relied on. And above all, as a friend,” he said in a social media post.
“Dax devoted 25 years of his life to public service, but his legacy will always be closest to home, in Quirino, in the communities he helped build and in the lives he made better. Let us only hope that we can live up to the legacy that he has left for us,” Marcos added.
The President was accompanied by his son, House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, Executive Secretary Ralph Recto, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, Social Welfare Secretary Rex Gatchalian, Agriculture Secretary Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr., and Budget Secretary Kim Robert De Leon.
Cua began his political career at 23, when he was elected vice governor of Quirino in 2001 becoming the country’s youngest elected vice governor at that time.
He served as the province’s vice governor from 2001 to 2007, governor from 2007 to 2010 and again from 2019 until his death, and representative of Quirino’s lone congressional district from 2010 to 2019.
He also served as national president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, national chairperson of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, and president of United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific.
As a legislator, Cua was a principal author of Republic Act 10230 that converted the Quirino State College into Quirino State University, and Republic Act 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
As governor, he initiated the “I Love Quirino” movement, a tourism and moral recovery campaign aimed at fostering pride in the province, and established Q-LIFE, or Quirino Livelihood for Everyone, a provincial program providing livelihood and economic support to local families.