Victor “Cocoy” Laurel, a man of music, theater, and quiet grace, has passed away. He was 72.
The Laurel family confirmed his death on June 14, in a solemn announcement through the Facebook page of his late mother, Celia Diaz Laurel: “We entrust our dear brother… into the hands of our almighty Lord.”
It is the kind of farewell that aches — soft-spoken but heavy with loss.
Cocoy’s niece, actress Denise Laurel, remembered him as a beacon — a man whose voice stirred souls and whose love for God shaped everything he did. “His voice,” she wrote, “now leads the heavenly choir.” She mourned not only an uncle, but a mentor and confidant who had helped shape her life.
Another niece, theater artist Nicole Laurel Asensio, grieved the loss of her Ninong with visible heartbreak. “There will never be another YOU,” she wrote.
Born into a family steeped in public service and the arts, Laurel carved a space uniquely his own — rising to fame in the 1970s opposite Nora Aunor, and later gracing stages as The Engineer in “Miss Saigon” and Jean Valjean in “Les Misérables.”
He lived for the stage, but more than that, he lived for people. And now, the theater is quieter. The music, dimmed. The world, a little less luminous.
Rest easy, Maestro.
