Family, friends bid Dolphy goodbye

MANILA—Rodolfo Vera “Dolphy” Quizon was finally laid to rest past 2 p.m. Sunday in a private, solemn ceremony at the Heritage Park in Taguig City, a Radyo Inquirer 990AM report said.

“I love you lovey ko (my love). Until we meet again,” Zsa Zsa Padilla, Dolphy’s partner, said in her final good-bye to Dolphy as dozens of doves were released in the gray-clouded sky.

Dolphy was widely regarded as the nation’s “King of Comedy,” whose almost seven-decade-long career brought cheer to the Philippines during its most turbulent and darkest moments.

Dolphy died from complications arising from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute renal failure at the Makati Medical Center in Makati City last July 10.

He was 83. Also saying their final good-byes were family and close friends of the actor.

Dolphy’s remains were encased in a glass-topped golden metal casket that he himself bought in the 1970s at slightly over $40,000.

Many in the star-studded crowd openly wept as the casket shimmered in the afternoon sun while pall bearers carried it a short distance from inside a chapel to the grounds of a heavily secured exclusive cemetery in Manila.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim snapped a salute in front of Dolphy’s casket, while Dolphy’s partner of 23 years, Zsa Zsa Padilla, tightly clung to it before it was shut and placed inside a black stoned crypt.

The ceremony was closed to Dolphy’s millions of grieving fans, many of whom traveled from different parts of the country to pay their respects to the comedian, officials said.

Private television, however, beamed the funeral live to homes.

Radyo Inquirer reporter Jon Escosio said that soon after casket was sealed in the tomb the grief of the mourners transformed into joy.

“I can see (indie star) Epy (Quizon) suddenly smiling, Zsa Zsa, too, and Eric (Quizon’s) face lit up in relief,” the reporter said. Later, Malacañang urged the nation to celebrate the life of Dolphy.

“We continue to condole with his loved ones and his friends,” deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte said that the Palace hopes the country will remember Dolphy with happy and not sad memories as what the comedy king had wished.  Inquirer.net