MANILA (3rd UPDATE) — Migrant Workers Secretary Susan "Toots" Ople, a staunch advocate of labor rights for overseas Filipino workers, has passed away, her family and her agency confirmed on Tuesday.

"Secretary Toots peacefully joined our Creator at around 1PM today, August 22, 2023 surrounded by her family and loved ones," the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) said in a statement.

• PROFILE: Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople

Her family members told ABS-CBN News' Henry Omaga-Diaz she died peacefully earlier this day.

Ople went on medical leave immediately after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) last month.

MARCOS MOURNS OPLE'S DEATH

Marcos Jr. mourned the demise of Ople, describing her as a “friend” and an “excellent” public servant.

Marcos Jr. gave the statement on the sidelines of an event in Laguna, minutes after the DMW confirmed that their chief has passed away after her bout with cancer.

“It’s very, very sad news. I have lost a friend, the Philippines has lost a friend,” the President said.

“Sec. Toots is a special person with a deep compassion for the people she had to care for, namely the migrant workers,” he said.

Ople “very much followed in the tradition of Ka Blas Ople of excellence, of compassion,” Marcos Jr. said, referring to the DMW Secretary’s father and late stateman.

"There cannot be a better example of the perfect mix of compassion and hard-nosed pragmatism than in Toots. She got many things done in her years of public service, and all for others, never for herself," the President said in separate statement.

Lawmakers also expressed their sadness over Ople's demise.

Senator Grace Poe described the late DMW chief as a "tireless champion" of OFWs' rights.

"I have personally worked with her in the past and saw her passion and dedication. We are grateful for her genuine public service," she said in a statement.

Speaker Martin Romualdez, meanwhile, led House lawmakers in mourning Ople's passing.

“She took up such advocacy from her father, the late Senate President Blas F. Ople, who was labor minister of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. Father and daughter served under two Marcoses,” Romualdez said.

The House chief noted that after the death of her father, Ople -- as a civilian -- continued to help OFWs and domestic workers and pushed for their rights, using the advocacy office set up by her father, the Blas F. Ople Center.

Kabayan Party List Rep. Ron Salo, chairperson of the Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs, echoed Poe and Romualdez.

"Her passion in promoting and protecting the welfare of every Filipino Migrant Worker is truly appreciated and will be greatly missed," he said.

Ople was the founder of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute (Ople Center), a non-profit organization centered on OFW affairs, named after her father, who served as Labor minister during the administration of Marcos Jr.'s late father.

With degrees from the University of Santo Tomas and the Harvard Kennedy School, the incoming DMW Secretary was the first Filipino to sit in the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking.

She ran for senator in 2016 under the Nacionalista Party but failed to win a seat.

Years after her political defeat, Ople embarked on a battle with breast cancer, which she said was a factor for not immediately accepting the Cabinet post.

In May 2022, she accepted the post as Migrant Workers chief under Marcos Jr's administration, vowing to take care even of the families of OFWs.

• From advocate to Cabinet member: Toots Ople accepts Marcos offer to head OFW dept

Among her last appearances in Malacañang include the launching of the DMW app on July 21, which sought to streamline OFWs' labor and overseas documents.

She was also absent in Marcos Jr's state visit to Malaysia last month.

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