Filipino minister dies in Taiwan

Mr Ople was one of the most senior members of the Philippines cabinet

Philippine Foreign Minister Blas Ople has died in a Taiwan hospital after falling seriously ill on board a plane.

Ople, 76, had suffered a heart attack, officials and family sources said.

The minister's aircraft made an emergency landing in Taiwan late on Saturday after he became ill en-route from Tokyo to Bangkok.

His body was flown to the Philippine capital Manila, where it arrived late on Sunday in a flag-draped casket and met by his family and officials.

Foreign Undersecretary Franklin Ebdalin has been made acting foreign secretary until a replacement is announced.

Ople "experienced difficulty in breathing and subsequently lost consciousness," his family said in a statement.

The minister had accompanied President Gloria Arroyo on a visit to Japan last week and was travelling to the Gulf state of Bahrain via Thailand, ahead of a visit there by the president.

Mrs Arroyo, who went ahead with her one-day visit to Bahrain, said: "The nation mourns the death of a great Filipino. We were awed by the vision and indomitable wit of Secretary Blas Ople.

"He was an architect of foreign policy in the finest tradition of enlightened and pragmatic diplomacy, a champion of peace, human rights, collective security and the rule of law."

Hospital officials said staff had given Ople emergency treatment but were unable to save him.

Ople was a heavy smoker and suffered from a lung ailment. He had suffered a mild stroke in 1994.

Taiwan Foreign Ministry official Lin Sung-huan told reporters at Minsheng Hospital that Ople's family were informed of his death on Saturday night, the Associated Press said.

Nationalist

Ople, the son of a boat-repairer, rose to be one of the most senior members of Ms Arroyo's cabinet.

He had previously served for nearly two decades as labour minister under former president Ferdinand Marcos.

Ople was a senator under an opposition party starting in 1992 and was Senate president briefly in mid-1999.

He was regarded as a nationalist, but also a pragmatist, and was the chief backer of the 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement which allows US forces to return to the former American colony for short-term training exercises.

Ople relinquished his Senate post in July last year when Arroyo appointed him as foreign secretary, replacing Teofisto Guingona.

As foreign minister, he dealt with major policy issues, such as the deployment of US counter-terrorism troops into the south of the country which had led to his predecessor's resignation.

His pro-US stance had led to criticism from left-wing groups.

But correspondents say he had also been a vocal campaigner for democratic reform, and in particular for the release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.