Loong separatist, congressman, 69

COTABATO CITY -TheAutonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) mourns the death of Sulu Congressman Habib Tupay Loong Friday (July 8), when relatives and friends gathered to pay him tribute on the bereaved family’s seventh day offering for him in Jolo.The family of Loong, who had been reelected congressman of Sulu last May 9, said the lawmaker succumbed to lingering liver cancer early dawn last Friday (July 1) at St. Luke’s Hospital in Quezon City, where he had been confined earlier. He was 69.ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman said Loong was best remembered as a fighter for the Bangsamoro rights in times of war and peace, notably for his firm stance at pushing the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law in Congress.” Today is the Paghinang Pitu (Seventh Day Offering) for Congressman Habib Tupay, a Representative of the People of Sulu, a freedom fighter, a reformer, a staunch advocate for Moro autonomy, a legislator, a leader, a father to many and a friend and brother to us whom he always treated as equal,” wrote former Elections Commissioner Mehol Sadain in his written tribute to the late Sulu legislator.Residents of Jolo, Sulu have placed much credit on Loong for winning the national government's support on the expansion of the centuries-old Jolo Municipal Port, which has been a major project of the Department of Transportation and Communication during his term as representative of Sulu's first congressional district.Sadain, a Taosug lawyer, said Loong did not have fancy degrees like many of his colleagues in the House of Representatives, yet he stood above many of them in his ardent advocacies and spoke like the seasoned leader that he was.” If I can stand up to bullets in the battlefield, why can't I stand up to interpellations in the House? If I can fight with my fellow warriors, why can't I argue with my fellow legislators? Which is harder, shooting it out with your enemies or speaking before the people?, Sadain recalled Representative Loong as telling his friends and Taosug constituents.Nash B. Maulana