VILLAR ON KA BEL'S DEMISE:

The workingman has lost a champion and a friend.

Whether in the halls of Congress or in factory floors, Ka Bel labored mightily to give the common man what is due him through legislations that he enriched with his views or in CBAs that he wangled in the picket line or in the negotiating table.

To the end, he displayed the true mettle of the Filipino worker.

We mourn his passing away while hoping that our nation will take up the lofty causes he ardently lived and died for.