Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople Dies at 61

(SPOT.ph) Migrant Workers Secretary Susan Ople, who championed the rights of overseas Filipino workers, died on Tuesday, August 22. She was 61. 

The Department of Migrant Workers said in a statement that Ople died at 1 p.m. surrounded by family. She is the first-ever secretary of the department founded in 2022.

“It is with great sadness that the Department of Migrant Workers announces the passing of our dearest Secretary Susan ‘Toots’ Ople,” the statement read. 

“Secretary Toots peacefully joined our Creator at around 1PM today, August 22, 2023 surrounded by her family and loved ones.”

Also read: Who are Bongbong Marcos' Cabinet Secretaries?

Who is Susan Ople?

Ople was a staunch advocate of overseas Filipino workers (OFW) rights and founded the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, named after her father who served as Senate president and former secretary of Labor and Employment during late President Ferdinand Marcos Sr's presidency.

The agency, led by Ople, provided assistance to OFWs which includes anti-human trafficking aid, skills training and job placements with the help of its partners.

She also served as a former Labor undersecretary under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In 2020, she became the first Filipino appointed to the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking.

In 2022, another Marcos president, Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., tapped another Ople to become part of his Cabinet. She made history by becoming the first-ever secretary of the newly-established Department of Migrant Workers.

She revealed in July that she battled breast cancer in 2020 and that she underwent surgery for it.

“It is a great loss for all of us, it is a great loss for all of us over my friend. It is a great loss to the Philippines for the service we know she could have still have rendered,” Marcos said as reported by Inquirer.