Blas Fajardo Ople (February 3, 1927 – December 14, 2003), Senator of the Philippines from 1992-2002 and Philippine Secretary (Minister) of Labor and Employment from 1967-1986, was born on February 3, 1927 in Hagonoy, Bulacan. He graduated validictorian in the grade school at the Hagonoy Elementary School in 1941. In 1948, he finished his high school at the Far Eastern University. He pursued a degree in liberal arts at the Educational Center of Asia (formerly Quezon College) in Manila.
Despite being in the opposition, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Ople as Secretary of Foreign Affairs in 2002. He held the position until his death. On December 13, 2003, Ople suffred heart attack, while boarding the aircraft to Dubai, which made an emergency landing at Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taoyuan County, Taiwan. He died of a heart attack at 10:30 a.m. at Minsheng General Hospital in Taoyuan, east of Taipei, the following day. He was 76.
Ople ran for senator (under the pro-Marcos Grand Alliance for Democracy coalition) and lost in the 1987 congressional elections. In 1992, he ran again for senator (under the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino and won. In 1998, he was reelected again. As a Senator, he became Senate President Pro-tempore from 1998-1999, Senate President from 1999-2000, and Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was one of the proponents of the 1999 RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement and one of the 11 senator-judges that denied the opening of the 2nd envelope during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada in 2001.
In 1978, Ople was elected member of the Interim Batasang Pambansa representing Central Luzon and was reelected in the 1984 regular Batasang Pambansa. Ople also served as political campaign manager of President Marcos in the 1986 Snap Elections.