Former VP Laurel dies at 75

Former VP Laurel dies at 75

PHILIPPINES: Salvador Laurel, a former vice president of the
Philippines who has been fighting charges of graft, died of
cancer early on Wednesday, his staff announced. He was 75.

Laurel died at the Stanford Hospital and Clinics in San
Francisco, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for
lymphoma, or cancer of the lymphoid tissue.

The son of former President Jose Laurel and doctor of law from
Yale University, Laurel served under ex-President Corazon Aquino
from 1986-1992. He was also a senator and briefly headed the
Department of Foreign Affairs.

Laurel and Aquino were sworn into office on Feb. 25, 1986,
following a "people power" revolt that toppled late dictator
Ferdinand Marcos.

In 1993, he was appointed by then-President Fidel Ramos to
head the National Centennial Commission that oversaw preparations
for the celebration of the country's 100th independence
anniversary in 1998.

But last March, he was charged with graft on suspicion he
improperly awarded a contract to build a 35,000-seat amphitheater
at the former U.S. Clark Air Base north of Manila and increased
the budget for the construction almost fivefold. -- AP