The Philippine government joined Sunday the international community in mourning the passing of former United Nations Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Kofi Annan.

“We are saddened by the demise of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a statement on Sunday.

“Mr. Annan made history as the first and only black African to head the UN, and his humanitarian work has been recognized and earned the former world’s top diplomat a Nobel Peace Prize,” he added.

Roque said the world has lost not only “a diplomat and peacekeeper but a humanitarian who worked tirelessly for a better and more informed humanity.”

He noted that it was Annan who said that “Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family."

In a separate statement, Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said the country will remember Annan for his unwavering commitment to multilateralism that reinvigorated the UN and brought peace to places around the world that have been torn apart by conflict.

“The Philippines will remember Kofi Annan for such initiatives as the UN Global Compact, the Millennium Summit, the Global Fund, and UN reform that helped shape today’s international environment,” Cayetano said.

He said the Philippines will remember Annan as a champion of humanity.

According to him, the late UN head's dignity, vision, and determination has made the world a better place to live in.

"For that, the Philippines will forever be grateful,” he added.

A Ghanaian national, Annan has died at the age of 80 in a hospital in Bern, Switzerland.

Annan served as UN Secretary-General for two terms from 1997-2006 and retired in Geneva and later lived in a Swiss village in the nearby countryside. Ella Dionisio/DMS