MANILA, Philippines — One of the country’s most outspoken Catholic prelates on Saturday said the greatest tribute Filipinos could give former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, who died in his sleep two days earlier, was to “never again” cast aside their dignity and to restore decency in national leadership.
In his homily at the funeral Mass for Aquino, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said he hoped that the death of the son of the country’s democracy icons would “spark another fire within us to resurrect his example of decency and integrity.”
“Eulogies have been written and spoken and shared, but the best eulogy tribute we can pay to our dear President Noy is to bring back, recover, preserve, safeguard, and never again to compromise our dignity as a people and the decency of our leaders as servants, not bosses,” Villegas said.
“The flags at half-mast are not only for the dead president but for the dying decent governance,” he said.
His remarks were not too subtle swipes at President Rodrigo Duterte, who often attacked the Catholic Church and the clergy for criticizing his profanity-laced rants, authoritarian tendencies, and his bloody war on drugs, which had killed thousands of alleged drug offenders. Duterte once called God “stupid.” He later said, “Sorry, God.”
Bishop Socrates Villegas presides the funeral mass of former President Benigno Aquino III, at the Church of Gesu in Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City on Saturday, June 26.-INQUIRER/GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE
Last respects
Aquino, who died early Thursday morning, had been awaiting a kidney transplant as he quietly battled a renal disease caused by diabetes, according to his family.
His cremated remains, sealed in a shiny metal urn, were brought the following day to the Church of the Gesu at the Ateneo de Manila, his alma mater, where thousands of mourners, friends, former members of his Cabinet, former and incumbent officials paid their last respects.
The funeral Mass was led by Villegas, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), who was joined by other priests and Caloocan Bishop Pablo Virgilio “Ambo” David.
It was also Villegas who led the funeral Mass for Aquino’s mother, former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino, in 2009.
Cory was the widow of former Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr., who fought against dictator Ferdinand Marcos. His assassination in 1983 triggered massive protests.
Following a fraud-marred election, Cory was swept into office by the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, which toppled Marcos. She and Ninoy were praised for resisting the dictatorship, leading to the restoration of democracy in the Philippines.
Silence of dignity
According to his sisters, Aquino had been in and out of the hospital before the pandemic and was undergoing dialysis before he died.
“His silence after his presidential term was a silence of dignity,” Villegas said. “[H]e brought dignity and honesty to the nation as our president [and] he preserved that dignity after his retirement. It was the silence of noble statesmen now rare and forgotten. It was the silence of ‘Daang Matuwid.’ It was the silence of nobility, that sense of dignity that we truly miss now.”
Aquino chose to endure his own problems by himself, and kept the true state of his health from people as he did not want to trouble anyone, the prelate said.
“Death for him came like a thief in the night, as the Gospel says. He died in his sleep. But then it was also not surprising. P-Noy died as he lived — to serve without fanfare. He abhorred the trappings [of power] and power tripping. He slipped away quietly, as much as possible disturbing no one. ‘Walang wangwang,’ very P-Noy,” Villegas said.
Long applause
Those he left behind are in mourning, and must still carry on through the “mediocrity and violence and vulgarity and treachery,” said Villegas, who became emotional after he spoke.
The eldest of the Aquino siblings, Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino-Cruz, thanked Ateneo and “all the bosses of Noy.”
She said her brother had made good on his promise to their father of looking after the family.
“To the man who we were so blessed to have as our brother, we will be proud of you, we will thank you, we will miss you and we will love you for the rest of our lives,” she said.
After the church service ended, all the mourners stood and applauded for nearly three minutes. Among them were Vice President Leni Robredo, Sen. Franklin Drilon, San Miguel Corp. president and CEO Ramon Ang, and basketball star James Yap.
Duterte did not attend the funeral Mass or any of the other memorial services for Aquino, but he had declared 10 days of national mourning.
In a statement on Thursday, he said the death of his predecessor was an “opportunity to unite in prayer and set aside our differences.”
“His memory and his family’s legacy of offering their lives for the cause of democracy will forever remain etched in our hearts,” the president said.
Yellow ribbons
Loud sirens and water cannon salutes from firetrucks sent off the funeral convoy as it pulled out of Ateneo and small crowds lined the road to Manila Memorial Park, where Aquino’s urn was to be interred beside his parents’ tombs.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Gen. Cirilito Sobejana and Philippine National Police chief Guillermo Eleazar received Aquino’s family for military honors at the cemetery where an Air Force helicopter flying overhead dropped yellow and white flower petals.
The former commander in chief’s urn was placed on a hearse draped with sunflowers and white orchids. Yellow ribbons were tied on trees along the route of the short funeral march led by Brig. Gen. Joel Alejandro Nacnac, director of the AFP Center for Law of Armed Conflict, and five other generals.
Yellow is the color associated with the Aquino family and the antidictatorship struggle.
A 21-gun salute was fired simultaneously at the cemetery and several military camps around the country.
Aquino’s four sisters took turns hugging his urn tightly and handing it to the next until it reached the youngest, Kris, who placed it inside the vault beside her mother’s tomb.
They sobbed quietly as “Bayan Ko” was sung at the end of the nearly hourlong interment ceremony.
Kris earlier said that the family, anticipating large crowds of supporters, wanted a “simple” funeral to avoid a COVID-19 “superspreader event.” Authorities had blocked many people at the entrance of the cemetery as an antipandemic measure.
“I pay respect to a leader that is humble and gave true love for the country, people, and God,” Thelma Chua, 64, clad in a yellow shirt at the funeral, told Reuters. “I pray for another family with the attitude like Noy and his parents that will fight for truth, justice, loyalty, love for God and country.”