AS colorful as her hair was, her life was also full of color and at times controversies, especially during her stint as former Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Corazon Soliman, “Dinky” to friends, colleagues and to a grateful nation, passed away today. She was 68.
The cause of her demise was still undisclosed, and her passing was confirmed by Vice President Leni Robredo herself, who called Soliman “a very good person.”
Vice President Robredo had fond memories of Sec. Dinky, especially during the time when the search and rescue operations were ongoing for the remains of her husband, then-Interior and Local Government secretary Jesse Robredo, who died in a plane crash in August 2012.
Appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as DSWD head, she resigned in 2005 at the height of the “Hello, Garci” scandal that fueled election fraud allegations.
She was appointed in the same position by former President Benigno Aquino III, where she helped expand the Conditional Cash Transfer program to include indigent Filipinos, and became the “4Ps” or the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program.
Former presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda called Soliman “indefatigable” and had the “biggest heart” even though she was the smallest in the Aquino cabinet.
She returned to social/non-governmental organization work after the Aquino term ended in 2016.
(PHOTO CREDIT: weforum.org)