Jaime Ferrer

Jaime Nery Ferrer (October 14, 1916 – August 2, 1987) was a Filipino lawyer, guerrilla and politician who served as Secretary of Local Government from 1986 until his assassination in 1987. To date, he is the first and only member of the Cabinet of the Philippines to have been assassinated in office.

Early life Jaime Ferrer was born on October 14, 1916, in San Dionisio, Parañaque. He finished law at the Philippine Law School. While studying, he began working in government in 1934 as a temporary clerk of the General Land Registration Office before moving to the Department of Justice. and attained the rank of colonel by the end of the war. Under his watch, the agency oversaw the conduct of the 1969 presidential election, the 1971 Senate election and the 1973 constitutional plebiscite. He later resigned from office due to his opposition to the way the latter exercise was conducted by show of hands rather than conventional voting following the declaration of martial law by Marcos. serving until the dissolution of the body in 1986 following Marcos' fall in the EDSA Revolution. Ferrer joined the cabinet of President Corazon Aquino as Secretary of Local Government after his predecessor, PDP leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. decided to run for the Senate in 1987. Aged 70, he was considered the oldest member of Aquino's cabinet.

As a cabinet secretary, Ferrer was responsible for overseeing local government institutions across the country at a time when most of them were run by interim officials appointed by the Aquino government pending new elections. During his tenure, he removed 200 OICs for misconduct. and supported the activities of another vigilante group, the Alsa Masa, in combating the Communist rebellion in the Philippines.

Assassination

Ferrer was assassinated by a group of unidentified gunmen on August 3, 1987. He was shot four times in the head and four times in the neck and shoulders a few yards from his home in Parañaque while riding in his car with no bodyguards from mass at Saint Andrew Parish Church. His longtime driver, Zosimo Calderon, was also killed. The assassins exchanged fire with police and stole two vehicles in succession before escaping. He received a state funeral