THE country laid to rest Wednesday night Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, the housewife who reluctantly became a president and who, by the end of her life, became a beloved leader.
Mrs. Aquino was interred beside her husband, former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Jr., at the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque 10 hours after a requiem mass at the Manila Cathedral and a long procession that was participated in by hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. The late senator’s own funeral procession lasted 11 hours, said to be the longest in the country’s history.
Hounded during her term by at least seven coup attempts, the former president was buried with full military honors. (For a detailed account of Mrs. Aquino’s funeral, read the live blog VERA Files did.)
Her family had declined a state funeral for her on account of political differences with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo whom she had called upon to resign because of corruption charges and alleged election fraud. With a state funeral, the remains of Mrs. Aquino would have lain in state at Malacanang, and her political foes who occupy top positions in government—such as Arroyo and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile—would have spoken during the necrological rites.
Aware of the uneasiness of the Aquino family over her presence in the funeral, Arroyo quietly visited the wake of the late president upon her arrival early morning from the United States.
A ‘great’ Filipino
Using a description that years ago would never have been imagined to apply to Mrs. Aquino, Bishop Socrates Villegas praised her and called her a “great” Filipino.
“We sought your leadership and drank from the fountain of your wise inspiration. Thank God, we met a great Filipina like you,” he said.
Inside the cathedral where the requiem was held at 9 a.m., and outside where thousands of people waited under a driving rain, ordinary Filipinos and Mrs. Aquino’s own family expressed thanks for the woman who continued looking after her country long after her duties as a government official had ended.
The heroic deeds of Mrs. Aquino were remembered along with her small acts of kindness. In his homily, Fr. Catalino Arevalo regarded the late president as “the only true queen of our people” who “held our hearts in the gentleness and greatness of her own.” He repeated what others have said: “She made me proud again to be a Filipino.”
At the same time, he recalled Mrs. Aquino’s thoughtfulness when she gave him her painting titled, “Crosses and Roses,” which came with a haiku or Japanese poem composed by the former president herself. Arevalo had been a friend of the Aquino family way back in Boston where they had stayed for three years.
Villegas also thanked the former president, saying, “Thank you for being our life when we were afraid. Thank you for helping us stand up for freedom. Thank you for preserving freedom no matter what the cost. Thank you for teaching us true meaning of love for family. Thank you for fighting for us. You never fought any battle for yourself.”
Honor beyond anything
Mrs. Aquino’s youngest daughter, Kris, gave an emotional farewell as she said that she and her siblings would miss her forever. “Mom, it will take a lifetime for us to be okay,” she said, unable to hold back her tears.
She said the family had told her mother that they would be all right only because they wanted her to “be free from pain and not worry about us.”
Mrs. Aquino had suffered from colon cancer and had to be given morphine treatment in the last days of her life.
Addressing her father, the late senator Aquino who was killed in 1983, Kris said, “Dad, please take care of mom. It’s your turn now. You were her one and only love.” Before the death of her husband, Mrs. Aquino had led a self-effacing life and kept herself in the background.
She thanked the Filipino people for honoring her mother. “You have given our family honor beyond anything we can hope to receive, that no matter how great the sacrifices of my parents were, I can honestly say to you, for my family, that Filipinos are worth it,” she said. It was in reference to the words of her father, the late senator Benigno Aquino Jr., who before returning to the Philippines said, “Filipinos are worth dying for.”
Recalling her mother’s opening words everytime she began her speech—”Minamahal kong mga kababayan”—Kris said this was exactly how her family felt with the affection showered on Mrs. Aquino by Filipinos who condoled with her family.
“You see in our family the journey of your own families,” she said. Alluding to her own life as the most controversial Aquino child, Kris said her mother had shown that it was possible to help a person change for the better.
“I thank you for the privilege of being your child,” she told her mother, and promised to live a life that would make her proud.
Family and nation
When her mother told the Aquino children to take care of one another, Kris said she believed that she was refering not just to their family but the entire nation as well.
Giving Filipinos a glimpse into the life of the family during her mother’s illness, Kris said her eldest sister Maria Elena or “Ballsy” was their mother’s constant assistant from the time of their father’s death. She credited her for “keeping the peace” in their family. At the funeral of their mother, Ballsy stood out for her calm demeanor.
It was in the house of Ballsy and her family that Mrs. Aquino stayed when she became ill with cancer.
Kris also reiterated her promise to her only brother, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, to help him in his political endeavors. She said that Noynoy has been a loving and caring uncle to Joshua, her son by actor Phillip Salvador.
Ever the irrepressible member of the clan, Kris revealed that Josh had told her uncle, “Tito Noy, please don’t get married.” The remark drew laughter from the crowd since Senator Aquino has remained a bachelor.
The requiem was attended even by officials of the Arroyo administration such as Vice President Noli de Castro. Also present were former presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Joseph Estrada. Joining the march from the cathedral were presidential candidates Mar Roxas, Pampanga Gov. Ed Panlilio and Metro Manila Development Authority chair Bayani Fernando.
The mass was highlighted by the participation of some of the country’s top singers such as Lea Salonga who sang, “Bayan Ko” and Jose Mari Chan whose song, “I Fell in Love With the Same Woman Three Times,” was based on a song written by the late senator Aquino.
Outside the Manila Cathedral, people waited under the rain for the casket to be brought out. Others watched the mass from giant screens put up around the cathedral. A military helicopter hovered around and dropped yellow confetti on the crowd that had gathered.
The funeral procession began at 11:24 a.m. A 10-wheeler flatbed truck bedecked in yellow and white blossoms bore Mrs. Aquino’s flag-draped casket past a sea of people who braved the heavy downpour to bid her goodbye.
As in Monday, when a convoy transported Mrs. Aquino’s body from La Salle Greenhills to the Manila Cathedral via Ayala Avenue in Makati, Filipinos relived the “Laban” (fight) spirit and “yellow” fever of the 1980s that culminated in the ouster of Marcos. They packed the streets where the funeral cortege passed, clad in yellow Cory shirts, tossing yellow confetti and flowers, releasing yellow balloons and flashing the “L” or Laban sign. Traffic on these and nearby streets came to a standstill for hours.
East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, the only head of state who attend the burial, said he was awed by the Filipinos’ outpouring of love for Mrs. Aquino.
