The vice mayor of Dumaguete City, who recently recovered from COVID-19, collapsed during a bike-for-a-cause activity at past 7 a.m. Sunday, May 30, and was pronounced dead at the Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital about two hours later.
Vice Mayor Alan Gel Cordova, 53, who joined a bike-for-a-cause activity of the Army’s 302nd Brigade from Tanjay, suffered severe chest pains in front of St. Paul’s University, Dumaguete Councilor Joe Kenneth Arbas said.
He was biking beside Col. Leonardo Peña, 302nd Brigade commander.
Cordova was rushed to the NOPH where doctors tried to revive him for two hours, Arbas said.
The vice mayor and his whole family had tested positive for COVID-19. He recovered on Tuesday and returned to work on Thursday, Arbas said.
The vice mayor, a 1989 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, was also a lawyer, Army Scout Ranger, economist, and teacher, Arbas said.
“As a politician I believe he was the only one I could trust to lead Dumaguete to greater heights…he was not corrupt,” he added.
Cordova did not compromise when it came to the truth and what is right for the people. He was close to the people because he was very friendly, Arbas said.
He is survived by his wife Marife Ligon Cordova, a barangay councilor of Piapi in Dumaguete, and three daughters.
The mayor of Dumaguete, Felipe Remollo, and two councilors have also tested positive for COVID-19.*