NBI Chief Wycoco Dies

Report courtesy of Sun Star Network On-Line

Almost a month after he suffered a cerebral stroke, Director Reynaldo Wycoco of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) passed away at 6:16 p.m. Monday at the Manila Doctors' Hospital where he had been confined. Wycoco had collapsed during a meeting in his office last November 23 and was immediately rushed to the hospital. Wycoco's physicians said he suffered hemorrhagic stroke due to ruptured aneurysm. He later became comatose. MDH medical director Dante Morales said Monday that Wycoco's organs gave in one by one. Wycoco was under life-support system before he passed away. Malacañang sympathized with the Wycoco's family and lamented his demise. "We have lost a good man and a true professional," Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said. Bunye, who is also presidential spokesman, said Wycoco "brought winds of change at the NBI", adding he hopes that Wycoco's successor will continue the good work of the late NBI director. Presidential adviser for political affairs Gabriel Claudio, for his part, described Wycoco as the "ideal bureaucrat and gentleman. He said they were also caught by surprise when he was rushed to the hospital after knowing him as a very health conscious person." "I'm deeply saddened by his passing. I have no doubt many of our countrymen feel the same profound loss. His record and reputation as a dedicated law enforcer, an honest civil servant, and a true gentleman will be very difficult to match, replace, or forget," Claudio said. (Sunnex/With JMR)
(December 20, 2005 issue)