Boy Saycon, political operator, dies at 69

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Boy Saycon, political operator, dies at 69
Friends called Pastor 'Boy' Saycon a true patriot while his foes deemed him a 'termite' of society

MANILA, Philippines – In his heyday, he herded reporters to a goldmine of stories – shaping the news cycle for months and disrupting the politics of the day.

Pastor “Boy” Saycon died on Thursday, August 8, barely two months after he turned 69 last July 10. He had a kidney transplant and was diagnosed with lung cancer. He succumbed to heart complication caused by pneumonia, according to his family.

A former businessman who lived near a retired general who would become president, Saycon was one of the original supporters and tacticians of Fidel Ramos, who ran for president in 1992 and won on the back of an endorsement of then-president Corazon Aquino and the smarts of his campaign team of retired soldiers, lawyers, and little-known politicians and wily operators, among them Saycon.

Saycon and Ramos were neighbors at Ayala Alabang in Muntinlupa.

After his role in Ramos’ victory, Saycon never looked back. 

He eventually joined the camp of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, got into the inner circle of Chavit Singson, and was very much in the know as Singson mounted his jueteng expose against then-president Joseph Estrada that led to Estrada’s downfall in 2001.

Arroyo, who was vice president then, was catapulted to the presidency in the second civilian-backed military revolt to occur in the Philippines.

But Saycon’s ties with Arroyo would not last, as he fought with her husband Mike Arroyo. 

Mrs Arroyo once called him “anay” (termite) of her envisioned “strong republic,” especially after he exposed anomalies in the construction of the Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City.

Saycon would help bring together rebel soldiers, Catholic priests, and leftist activists in mass protests against Arroyo after the Hello, Garci scandal that linked her to election cheating in the 2004 presidential elections.

In the 2010 elections, Saycon backed the presidential bid of Noynoy Aquino but campaigned for another vice president, Jejomar Binay. The “Noy-Bi” campaign upset the “Noy-Mar” tandem and split the Cojuangco-Aquino clans, who were solid behind Noynoy but divided over Binay and Noynoy’s running mate, Mar Roxas. Roxas lost. 

Saycon managed to stay on the good side of Duterte too. The President named him member of the Edsa People Power Commission in January 2018.

His eclectic politics notwithstanding, Saycon remained consistently allied with two: the Catholic Church and former Tarlac congressman Peping Cojuangco.

 

Online, journalists who developed friendships with Saycon posted tributes for their favored source of news during the Ramos administration. – with reports from Glenda Gloria/Rappler.com

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