PH joins world in mourning former UN chief Kofi Annan’s death

The Philippines on Sunday joined the international community in mourning the demise of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

Malacañang described the Nobel Peace Prize winner as “a humanitarian who worked tirelessly for a better and more informed humanity.”

“We are saddened by the demise of former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan,” presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement on Sunday.

Annan died in Switzerland on Saturday after a short illness. He was 80.

Roque cited Annan for having made history as the first and only black African to head the United Nations, whose “humanitarian work has been recognized and earned the former world’s top diplomat a Nobel Peace Prize.”

“The world, has, indeed, lost not only a diplomat and peacekeeper but a humanitarian who worked tirelessly for a better and more informed humanity,” Roque said.

It was Annan, according to the Roque, who said, “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.”