Simeon Datumanong, leader, politician, statesman dies at 82

MANILA - Representative Simeon Datumanong has passed away tonight due to cardiac arrest, relatives today told and//www.ndbcnews.com.ph www.ndbcnews.com.ph Engr. Zamsamin Ampatuan, mayor of Raja Buayan, Maguindanao, said Datumanong, also former governor of Maguindanao, expired at 9:25 p.m. Tuesday at the Philippine Heart Center where he has been confined the past two weeks. I am deeply sad to inform one and all. I just had a talk with Ate Sigrid (Datumanong's wife) that our beloved SIMEON AMPATUAN DATUMANONG had rested in peace. He died in Manila on or about 9.25pm 28 February 2017, this eve of Tuesday, Engr. Ampatuan said on his FB page at 10:45 p.m. He will be laid to his final resting place at Maganoy (Poblacion Sharif Aguak, Maguindanao), tomorrow, March 1, 2017 corresponding to 1 Jamadil Akhir 1438, he added. We will miss him so much as an epitome of good leadership, calm simple and effective. For me, he is an elder who is my idol. Kaka Sim, May Allah bless your soul, the mayor of Raja Buayan said.Engr. Ampatuan said Datumanong had a comatose and at certain point appearing to recuperate. But then, this evening, he had lost the battle for his life, he said.Datumanong,
born June 17, 1935, is a Filipino-Muslim politician who held different
government positions including as a Representative of the lone district of
Maguindanao in the House of Representatives of the Philippines.He is married to Hadja Sittie Mariam Sigrid De Guzman. Datumanong and have four children.He finished elementary as the class valedictorian at Cotabato Central School in sand//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotabato_City Cotabato City on 1949. He was the first honorable mention when he finished his high school studies at Cotabato High School. Right after
finishing high school, he took up Bachelor of Laws at the University of the
Philippines. He was admitted to the Bar on 1959.Datumanong
entered politics when he was elected as Vice-Governor (1963–1967) then as
Governor (1967–1971) of Cotabato.

When the
province of Cotabato was split to the provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat,
and North Cotabato, he was elected as the first governor of Maguindanao in 1973
and served until 1975.

He was then
elected to the Regular Batasang Pambansa from Maguindanao in 1984.

In 1992,
Datumanong was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives to represent
Maguindanao's Second District. He served until 2001 when he was appointed by
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as Secretary of Public Works and Highways.

In 2003, he
was Secretary of Justice and served until his resignation in the same year. He
was reelected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 2007.