2 women fight for Iggy’s remains

The women of Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo just cannot let the deceased lawmaker rest in peace, with each trying to take custody of his body.

Alicia “Alelli” Arroyo, Iggy’s second wife, and her lawyer, Lorna Kapunan, failed to bring home Iggy’s body after Grace Ibuna, Iggy’s live-in partner, was able to convince the director of the London funeral parlor holding Iggy’s body to block Alicia’s attempt.

A source in the camp of Alicia said that since she failed to prove that her marriage to Iggy had not been annulled, the funeral director recognized Ibuna as Iggy’s next of kin.

Kapunan said that Ibuna wanted to have Iggy’s remains cremated, a claim which Iggy’s elder brother, Jose Miguel Arroyo, vehemently denied.

The husband of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said his younger brother’s body would be brought home by Iggy’s eldest child, Bianca, either today or tomorrow.

Arroyo told the Inquirer in an interview: “I think they (Aleli and Kapunan) will come home empty-handed. It will be Bianca who will bring her father’s body here in a day or two.”

Bianca is Iggy’s daughter with his first wife, Marilyn Jacinto, sister of rock guitarist and radio DJ Ramon “RJ” Jacinto. She was sent last week by Arroyo to arrange her father’s return to the country.

Arroyo refused to comment on the dispute between the women left behind by Iggy, but he was insistent that Iggy’s body would be brought to the country intact.

“I called my niece, Bianca, about that information I got, and she told me that it was not true. She was coming home with her father, and she told me there will be no cremation,” said Arroyo.

Iggy, who was being treated for a liver ailment, died last Jan. 26 at a London clinic after a heart attack. Ibuna was at his deathbed and was widely believed to have permitted doctors to take him off a life-support system after being declared “clinically dead.”

Ibuna has been accused by Alicia’s camp of misrepresenting herself as Iggy’s wife. Although Iggy and Alicia have been separated for six years, the latter was still his legal wife because their marriage had not yet been annulled.

Alicia and Kapunan also went to London a few days ago and announced that they would take full control of Iggy’s funeral arrangements and bar Ibuna from attending the wake. Alicia said that Iggy’s wake would be held at the family’s La Vista home. /INQUIRER