Negros Occidental Gov. Joseph Marañon, surrounded by his family, peacefully passed away at his residence at Santa Clara Subdivision in Bacolod City at 6:40 last night, six days before his 74th birthday.

The governor succumbed to cardio-pulmonary arrest and died in his sleep as he had wished, his chief of staff Jose Ma. Valencia said.

The governor had been undergoing treatment for a growth in his liver that was aggravated when he was hit by community acquired pneumonia during the May elections last year.

Vice Governor Isidro Zayco will take his oath as governor and Board Member Emilio Yulo III as vice governor of Negros Occidental at the provincial Capitol in Bacolod City 8:30 a.m. today.

Jose Ma. Valencia, Gov. Joseph Marañon’s chief of staff, said he advised Zayco to immediately take his oath to avoid a vacuum in the leadership of the provincial government.

“You cannot have an acting governor when there is no more governor,” Valencia said.

The absence of the main personalities in the controversial sales contract between the Central Negros Electric Cooperative and the KEPCO-Salcon Power Corp. gave oppositors ample time to present their cases before the hearing of House Committee on Energy led by Rep. Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo (Pampanga, 2nd District) at the Social Hall of the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City yesterday afternoon.

“As far as I’m concerned, this is a venue to give oppositors a chance to say something,” Arroyo said, but added, “We’ll hold them accountable for their absence.”

Expected to show up were CENECO president Roberto Montelibano and officials of KSPC and National Power Corp., the current power supplier of CENECO.