By BEHN FER. HORTALEZA, JR.FORMER

Information Minister Gregorio S. Cendana died Friday morning before noon in Manila following a massive heart attack.

Cendana, a native of San Nicolas, Pangasinan, was brought to the Philippine Heart Center after complaining of chest pains and general weakness but did not survive the cardiac seizure that followed. He was 76.

Known for his savvy handling of public relations that carried him well and through his stewardship of the defunct National Media Production Center, the then Ministry of Information and the Office of Media Affairs, apart from being in-charge of the Malacanang Press Office during the Marcos administration, Cendana was well-loved by both veteran and new journalists in the country.

He ran and won as assemblyman of the then Batasang Pambansa in his own sixth district in Pangasinan, surprising the bigger political clans of eastern Pangasinan like the Estrellas and Villars with his strong performance as a neophyte contender.

Even after bowing out as government information czar after the Cory Aquino administration, Cendana kept his connections with most media outfits, doing public relations work discreetly for both the succeeding Ramos and Estrada administrations.

He maintained his relations with Pangasinan mediamen, established throughout his term as government information director, taking time to mix with them whenever he was in the city.

To his credit as an administrator and tutor, most of his protégés at Malacanang and the OMA were retained and even promoted by past administrations, helping out in various information work or in media relations as was their expertise under Cendana.

Until his death last Friday, he was tapped on consultancy basis for such government offices as the Movie and Television Review Board and other national leaders, preferring however to stay in the sidelines away from publicity and jokingly justifying his preference thus; “Sometimes, in PR work, anonymity is bliss.”

He is survived by his physician-wife, Lily and children.