Felicito ‘Tong’ Payumo; 86: A life of leadership, service and vision
DINALUPIHAN, BATAAN—“Fully accomplished,” said Renato Briones, 87, when asked to describe the life of Felicito “Tong” Payumo. Quickly, Payumo’s longtime friend Rodolfo Kalaquian, 80, added, “He’s done a lot.”
The two gray-haired men, friends of Payumo since childhood in this Bataan town, began recalling from memory his many roles in government and the private sector.
Their recollections matched the list of achievements cited during two separate tributes held on Monday at the University of Nueva Caceres-Bataan—eight days after Payumo’s unexpected passing in Hong Kong on Oct. 19. He was 86.
Intentionally or not, Payumo had left behind a record of his life’s work in his Facebook posts and blog entries.
Payumo played a pivotal role in transforming former US military bases into engines of economic growth. He helped craft the law that converted these bases into special economic zones and later chaired both the state-run Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) from 2011 to 2012 and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), where he also served as administrator, from 1998 to 2004.
Economy, education
“It was President Noynoy (the late Benigno Aquino III) who appointed me as chairman of the BCDA. I have to say that not even once did any one of them ask me to do a favor to anybody. Taking from his leadership, we were able to serve the country with honesty and integrity,” one of Payumo’s posts went.
He wrote that he had served as congressman of Bataan’s old first district, though he did not mention that his entry into politics was driven by frustration over the killing of an older brother in 1986. As a lawmaker, he was the principal author of the build-operate-transfer law and the Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, better known as the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza) law.
Payumo had a deep affection for the youth, establishing elementary and high schools in every barangay of Dinalupihan.
He also donated a 1,000-square-meter parcel of land to the main campus of Loakan National High School. Turned over in 2023, the site now hosts a farm school with fishponds where students learn to cultivate food, according to faculty president Marilyn Sebastian, who spoke to the Inquirer in a chance encounter.
Payumo also founded the University of Nueva Caceres-Bataan in 2014, which went on to support some 300 scholars.
Inspiration
Lawyer Von Rodriguez, who began his career in the SBMA’s legal department and now serves as chief of staff to chair and administrator Eduardo Jose Aliño, recalled that Payumo “stood his ground on issues that threatened to weaken the freeport.”
“In government, his hallmark pursuits were education, job creation, and infrastructure,” Payumo’s daughter Ani wrote in a birthday tribute to him in 2019.
Payumo’s commentaries, which the Inquirer published and which he reposted as blogs, reflected the insights of a statesman keenly observing the flaws and abuses in government.
In a Facebook post, Bataan Rep. Albert Garcia wished that Payumo’s “legacy of service, selflessness, and integrity be forever remembered, cherished, and continue to be an inspiration to us all.”
“Our country has lost a patriot, a visionary, and a man of character and integrity. One of his big ideas is the Bataan-Cavite Bridge,” lawyer Arnel Paciano Casanova, vice chair and president to Payumo in the BCDA, said in another post on Facebook.
Antonio “Tonito” Payumo hoped that his father’s proposal “will see the light of day” and become a “game changer” for Bataan and Central Luzon.
During the tribute at the University of Nueva Caceres-Bataan, Payumo’s urn rested between his portrait and an image of Our Lady of Peñafrancia—a serene tribute to a life marked by faith and service. A funeral Mass will be held at Santuario de San Antonio Church in Makati City on Friday.
