Philip "Popoy" Ella Juico

Philip Juico died at 8:18 pm on Saturday 31 October 2026 at the Makati Medical Center, aged 78. He had been battling cancer since 2022.

His son Joseph Juico announced the death on Facebook early on 1 November, writing that his father "peacefully joined our Creator" and that "after courageously battling cancer since 2022, my Papa passed away peacefully in his sleep." The family asked for prayers and said details of the wake and funeral would be announced once finalised. His death was reported by The Manila Times, the Daily Tribune, Tiebreaker Times and other Philippine outlets.

Philip Ella Juico was born on 14 December 1947 and was known throughout his life by the nickname Popoy. He was educated entirely at De La Salle, finishing elementary school there in 1961 and high school in 1965, and earning his AB-BSC degree from De La Salle University in 1970.

Sport and writing were early interests. In high school he was a sports writer for the student paper The LaSallite, and at university he joined The LaSallian, serving as its sports editor from 1969 to 1970 and as associate editor in 1970. De La Salle University later inducted him into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 for his contribution to Philippine sports.

Juico began his career as a consultant to Philippine agribusiness. After the 1986 People Power Revolution he joined the Aquino government, serving in 1986 and 1987 as a deputy minister in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and as an assistant secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Food.

When President Corazon Aquino launched the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program in July 1987, she appointed Juico Secretary of Agrarian Reform to carry it out. He also sat on the boards of the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines and chaired the Cabinet cluster on rural development. He resigned in 1989 after the Garchitorena land scandal, in which the government agreed to buy largely non-arable land in Camarines Sur at many times the price a private firm had paid for it months earlier. On 16 July 1992 the Sandiganbayan cleared him, ruling that there was no proof he had taken part in any willful attempt to defraud the government. He stood for the House of Representatives in 1992 with Aquino's endorsement but was defeated.

He served as the fourth chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission from 1996 to 1998. From 2002 to 2008 he was dean of the Graduate School of Business of De La Salle Professional Schools. He was among the founders of the Philippine Super Liga, a women's volleyball league, in 2013 and chaired it, and he was also a founder of the Shakey's Super League in 2022.

In 2015 he was elected president of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, and he was re-elected in 2021. He also served as vice president of the Asian Athletics Association and chairman of its School and Youth Commission. In late 2021 PATAFA under his leadership became embroiled in a public dispute with pole vaulter EJ Obiena over the liquidation of funds for the salary of Obiena's coach. The Philippine Olympic Committee's ethics committee concluded that Juico had harassed the athlete, and the POC declared him persona non grata, a decision its general assembly upheld in January 2022. Juico argued that the POC had no jurisdiction over national sports associations. He resigned as PATAFA president on 18 June 2022 and was succeeded by Terry Capistrano.

Juico married Margarita Penson in 1973, and the couple had four children. His son Joseph Juico became a Quezon City councilor for the 1st district. In his later years Juico dealt with serious illness: around 2017 he began seeing doctors about his declining health, and he went on to have a kidney transplant and to be diagnosed with cancer.

Juico is remembered as one of the officials who launched the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, among the most consequential and contested policies of the post-Marcos era, and as a long-serving figure in Philippine sports administration. He helped build two of the country's volleyball leagues, led the national sports agency and then the athletics federation, and was honoured by the De La Salle Sports Hall of Fame. His record also carried controversy, from the Garchitorena affair, of which he was cleared, to the Obiena dispute that overshadowed his final years at PATAFA.