Antipolo lawmaker Resurreccion Acop dies after getting COVID-19

Antipolo City 2nd District Representative Resurreccion Acop died on Friday morning, May 28, due to multiple organ failure caused by COVID-19.

“She passed away at 6 am today,” her husband, former congressman and retired police general Romeo Acop, told Rappler in a text message on the same day.

She was 73.

In a phone interview with Rappler, Romeo recounted their ordeal with COVID-19.

The two of them got admitted to the Cardinal Santos Medical Center in San Juan City on April 8. On April 14, only Romeo was discharged. He was cleared of COVID-19, but his wife’s condition deteriorated. She had asthma.

“From the COVID-19 [ward], she was transferred to the ICU after around 3 days, because they could not control the result of the COVID-19 infection. She was intubated. A bacterial pneumonia developed. The liquid in her lungs could not be removed, until problems emerged in her heart, her kidney, and then her liver,” he said.

Romeo said he was able to visit his wife for the last time on Tuesday, May 25. He said his wife recovered from COVID-19 before she died, but the complications on her body were too much.

“My wife was a good wife, a good mother, a good grandmother, a good doctor, and a very, very good friend to many,” Acop said.

Resurreccion succeeded her husband as representative of the 2nd District of Antipolo City after he served for three consecutive terms from 2010 to 2019. A 1970 graduate of the Philippine Military Academy, Romeo Acop had served in crucial positions in the Philippine National Police (PNP), including as chief of the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

She was a vice chair of the House health committee and was a principal author of 102 bills and a co-author of 44 measures.

In a statement, the House mourned Acop’s death.

“She will be remembered for her kindness, passion and commitment to selflessly serve the people of the 2nd district of Antipolo City,” the House said in a statement, released by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco. – Rappler.com

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Rambo Talabong

Rambo Talabong covers the House of Representatives and local governments for Rappler. Prior to this, he covered security and crime. He was named Jaime V. Ongpin Fellow in 2019 for his reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. In 2021, he was selected as a journalism fellow by the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics.