Presumptive House Speaker and Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez paid his last respects to the late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday morning, July 12.
Romualdez did so by personally visiting the official residence of Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko.
The Visayas congressman had earlier described Abe as "a dear friend of the Filipino people".
Abe who was assasinated in Nara City in Western Japan last July 8 while delivering a campaign speech.
Romualdez, the House Majority Leader in the 18th Congress, offered again his deepest condolences and sympathies to Abe's wife, Mrs. Akie Abe; their relatives, the government and the people of Japan.
"With the deepest and most profound condolences and prayers, we mourn the loss and sudden passing of a great leader and true friend," Romualdez wrote in the official condolence book.
Romualdez also cited Abe's love, compassion and kindness for Filipinos and his huge role in making the alliance and people-to-people ties of the Philippines and Japan stronger.
Abe, 67, was shot from behind in a broad daylight by a gunman and was pronounced dead in the hospital five hours after the shooting.
Earlier, Romualdez mourned Abe's death, saying "the world has lost a kind and decent man, a great leader and a statesman."
"I join the country of Japan and the Filipino nation in mourning the death of the beloved leader," Romualdez said.