BY VICTOR REYES and WENDELL VIGILIA
FORMER Camarines Sur congressman and budget secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. was found dead in his room in Naga City yesterday noon in a suspected suicide case, the Bicol regional police said.
Citing information, Bicol regional police spokeswoman Maj. Maria Luisa Calubaquib said the 53-year-old Andaya had a gunshot wound in the head when found in his room at their residence in Barangay Concepcion Grande at around 7 a.m.
Siblings Ranton and Katrina confirmed the death of their father on social media.
“With deep grief and sadness, we announce the untimely death of our father, former member of the House of Representatives, Rolando ‘Nonoy’ G. Andaya, Jr., this morning, June 30, 2022,” they said in a statement.
“We request for your fervent prayers for his eternal repose and to allow us, his family, to grieve privately our loss,” they added.
Calubaquib said Andaya’s body was discovered by his bodyguard John Mark Patrick Señar, who also found inside a firearm inside the room of the former secretary of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
“He (Andaya) was discovered by his personal assistant who responded immediately after he (assistant) heard gunshots from the location of Honorable Andaya,” she said, adding: “Pwedeng ginamit nya ‘yun sa kanya (It’s possible he used it on himself).”
The police report said Señar heard a gunshot and later “discovered the victim at his bedroom lying on his left side and a gunshot wound on the right portion of his head.”
Calubaquib said information relating to the death of Andaya “need(s) to be confirmed” by investigators from the PNP Scene of the Crime Office (SOCO). “As of the moment police authorities are closely coordinating with the family for the investigation being conducted,” she also said.
Andaya’s longtime friends and fellow “Spice Boys” members at the House of Representatives back in the 11th Congress could only sigh in disbelief after learning of his untimely death.
The Spice Boys was a group of congressmen who were critical of the administration of then president Joseph Estrada. Incoming Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri was among the most prominent members of the group.
“I’m out of words! I’ve known Nonoy since college days to be a fun, jolly and a cheerful person! I will miss his company, his jokes, his friendship and our camaraderie. May you rest in peace Noy!” said Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers.
A shocked Anakalusugan party-list Rep. Michael Defensor said the death of Andaya’s wife Marissa “took a toll on him.”
“She was his reason for being,” he said. “He could not do anything without her. I am so sad that I received this tragic news on my birthday, a supposed day of celebration. Today I ask my well-wishers to offer their prayers instead for my dear friend Noy,” he said.
“To Noy, rest my friend and enjoy the company of Marissa whom you missed so much. Till we meet again,” he added.
“Nonoy is one of one my closest friends. We were together in Congress and in the cabinet. We share the same kind of sense of humor which many people may find weird,” said Defensor.
Defensor even recalled a time when he played a practical joke on Andaya, who was then a budget secretary under the Arroyo administration.
“I remember one time when President GMA (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) called him to her office. He was literally running and when he saw me, catching his breath, (he) asked if the President was in a good mood. I told him yes and is, in fact, in a happy mood. He went in as I hid behind the door and I saw the President shouting as regards a data in the budget she could not ascertain. I was laughing quietly pointing at him as Noy looked at me standing behind President GMA who was seated down typing. He was cursing me with no sound as I laughed through his ordeal. We both went out of the room laughing as he was giving me the ‘bad sign’ for playing a trick on him,” he narrated.
Another good friend of Andaya who was not a member of the Spice Boys, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, said: “Nonoy Andaya will be remembered for the vigor with which he infused discussions on the national budget, arguably the House’s most important national function.”
“I grieve the loss of my friend and longtime colleague, Rolando “Nonoy” Andaya Jr., and condole with his bereaved children. We were colleagues both in Congress and in the PGMA cabinet,” he said.
Salceda said Andaya’s father, Rolando Sr., who was a mentor to him, provided him with opportunities for success “that very few senior members are willing to give freshmen congressmen.”
“Nonoy, his son, would later follow in the footsteps of his father as Appropriations Chair, as I also did follow this mentor. In this sense, Nonoy was my brother, for we shared a common mentor, his father, in the House,” he said. “I am especially saddened by how heavily the loss of his beloved Marissa, my colleague, must have weighed on Nonoy.”
Calubaquib extended the Bicol police’s “deepest sympathy and condolences to the family” of Andaya.
Andaya was elected multiple times as Camarines Sur congressman and once served as House majority floor leader. He ran for governor in Camarines Sur in the last May elections but lost to Luigi Villafuerte.
Andaya served as budget secretary from 2006 to 2010 during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
