By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Negros Oriental Board Member Arturo Umbac reportedly passed away while on an official trip to Aklan on Thursday.

Negros Oriental Acting Governor Mark Macias said during a radio interview yesterday, he was on a tour of the Allen Salas Quimpo Bakhawan Ecological Park in Kalibo, alongside the 83-year-old provincial official and other board members, when Umbac suffered a heart attack.

Macias said they rushed him to the nearest hospital and tried to resuscitate him on the way.

The board member was later declared dead on arrival.

Umbac’s career as a board member started in 2004. He later ran for mayor of Dumaguete City, but lost to the late Mayor Agustin Perdices.

Umbac returned as a provincial board member following the 2016 national elections./DGB, WDJ