'The queen we never had'

MANILA, Philippines – Massive crowds lined the streets, often in the rain, the whole day yesterday, strewing confetti and chanting, “Cory, Cory!” as they bade goodbye to former President Corazon Aquino.

She was the queen the country never had, Fr. Catalino Arevalo said in his homily during the requiem Mass attended by thousands of people who gathered to express their sympathy and gratitude to the Aquino family for sharing their mother with the nation.

“The children never had their father and mother. They have always shared them with the people, but because the blood of Cory and Ninoy (former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.) flows in them, they have their grace. To the family, thank you. The people would forever be in your debt,” Arevalo said.

Mrs. Aquino, who died at the age of 76 at the weekend after a long battle with colon cancer, was buried 10 hours later at the family mausoleum at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque after a long funeral procession witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people who lined the route of the funeral cortege.

“She always made the Filipino people proud. The late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin said that ‘what a great gift God gave to the people, when she gave Cory to us,’” he said.

Arevalo said Mrs. Aquino’s three daughters – Ballsy, Pinky and Viel – highlighted their mother’s selflessness in loving the country over her family, her faith in God, courage and abiding loyalty.

He said the two other children, Kris Aquino-Yap and Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, could always speak for themselves, being celebrities in their own right.

“Oftentimes, it has been said that Mrs. Aquino said that she could not complain on how her life turned out,” he said.

“She was a housewife who became president, a woman who defeated a long-time dictator by leading the people through a peaceful revolt,” Arevalo said.

Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas made the final commendation to the former president during the two-hour requiem Mass.

“Tita Cory, I know you can hear me. You have to go now. God has called you back home. We who are still here on earth are not ready to say goodbye. We will never meet a woman as great as you for a very long time. We will miss you. We accept it. You are not ours. You are God’s. It is the truth but it hurts us deeply,” he said.

Villegas said Mrs. Aquino is now free of the burden of taking care of the country after restoring democracy.

“The battle is over, the victory is won. You are now truly free! You are now fully happy! Move on to heaven and be with your beloved Ninoy, forever. Heaven is where the two of you will die no longer. Harvest the rich fruits of your toil on earth,” he said.

Villegas said Mrs. Aquino “died three times” for the country.

She died when she had to give up her private life for the sake of her husband, Villegas said.

“She died when she was forced to become the opposition candidate in the 1986 snap elections. She died again when she became president from 1986 to 1992,” he said.

Villegas said Mrs. Aquino dies every time that the people call on her to leave her retirement whenever there were threats against democracy. “We promise to love this country as you loved us. There is darkness in our land but you have shared with us your fire,” Villegas said.

Villegas described Mrs. Aquino as a woman who was “born to wealth and plenty but you lived in simplicity and humbly carried our painful misery.”

‘You are not alone’

Villegas presided over the concelebrated requiem Mass that was attended by more than a thousand people who filled the Manila Cathedral to pay their last respects to the former president.

Her coffin left Manila Cathedral draped in the national flag and was carried by eight police officers in full dress uniform to a flatbed truck festooned with yellow and white flowers.

Men and women openly cried as the cortege moved slowly through the rain-drenched crowd for the 20-kilometer journey to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City. The funeral procession lasted until past 8 p.m. last night.

Mrs. Aquino was laid to rest beside her martyred husband, who was gunned down in 1983 when he returned home to challenge the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Many shouted her name and threw flowers onto the truck where representatives of the military’s four armed services stood in silence at each corner of the coffin atop the flatbed truck.

Hundreds of thousands of people began lining the route well before dawn despite the inclement weather that battered the city overnight and into the morning to pay tribute to the accidental opposition leader.

Fire trucks blasted their cannons, forming arcs of water above the procession in a salute to the former president. Yellow ribbons and balloons flapped from lampposts, trees and vehicles – a tribute to Mrs. Aquino in her signature color, which became a symbol of the opposition movement.

A military helicopter flew low overhead, sprinkling the crowd with yellow confetti while ships anchored in Manila Bay blared their horns as the funeral procession passed along Roxas Boulevard in Manila.

Hundreds of bikers and cyclists in yellow shirts led the convoy.

Students clad in yellow were among the mourners, carrying placards that read: “Cory, you are not alone, we love you.”

The police and military gave full honors to their former commander-in-chief up to the last minute of the interment last night.

The interment ceremony formally ended when the national flag that draped the wooden coffin of the former president was given to Sen. Aquino.

East Timor President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta was the first of the dignitaries who laid a yellow rose in the tomb before it was sealed.

The family mausoleum was painted white and festooned with yellow and white flowers.

Over 500 priests and nuns on top of the military and police contingent assigned to give full military honors to the former president surrounded the area.

Over the last five days, hundreds of thousands of mourners have filed past her open casket. Family, friends and former aides crowded into the Manila Cathedral late Tuesday to eulogize the housewife that ended the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.

Fr. Arevalo recalled Mrs. Aquino’s role and ultimate triumph in the non-violent struggle to end the 20-year Marcos dictatorship that claimed her husband’s life.

“Whenever she thought freedom to the land she loved was involved, she went back to the streets to struggle,” Arevalo said, referring to Mrs. Aquino’s active role in the protests against President Arroyo that followed allegations of cheating in the 2004 elections.

“She made me proud again to be a Filipino,” Arevalo quoted a text message sent to him by an elderly friend. – With Rhodina Villanueva, Aurea Calica, AP - By Evelyn Macairan (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)