About 1,000 people from all walks of life, including urban poor residents and the Vice President, attended the funeral of the widow of the late senator Sergio Osmeña Jr. yesterday.
Lourdes dela Rama-Osmeña, 98, was accompanied to her final resting place by hundreds of Cebuanos, most of whom had scant memories of the Ilongga hacienda owner, who made Bacolod City her home since the 1970s.
Before noon, she was entombed beside her husband at the Osmeña mausoleum in barangay Tejero, Cebu City.
“Most of you never met my mother but I thank you all, including the urban poor and the seniors for joining us in this moment of sorrow,” said her youngest son Cebu City Rep. Tomas Osmeña in a eulogy during a 10 a.m. requiem Mass in the Sacred Heart Church in D. Jakosalem Street.
Her children took turns describing Lourdes as a “very private” lady who shied away from politics and preferred to oversee her family’s sugarcane plantation and other properties in Negros.
Eldest son Sen. Serge Osmeña III said, “She is now home in Cebu for good, to rest in the loving arms of the Cebuanos, whom her husband served so well.”
He recalled that Lourdes would only come to Cebu two days before an election to vote and to attend the final campaign rally of her husband Serging, who served as Cebu City mayor, Cebu governor and senator.
The senator said Inday, as she was called, had wanted her children to share her dedication to tending the sugarcane plantation in Negros.
“I’m sorry that I failed you there,” he said.
Yesterday’s funeral turnout was a reminder of the big influence of the Osmeña clan in political history.
Members of urban poor groups and senior citizens showed up with yellow vests emblazoned with faces of four Osmeñas—the late president Sergio Sr., the late senator Sergio Jr., Sen. Serge Osmeña III and Congressman Osmeña.
Political supporters crowded the church, filling the back portion and side aisles.
“We came because we wanted to express our thanks and support to the Osmeña family. Tommy Osmeña started the release of our financial assistance and we are very grateful,” said an elderly lady from barangay Basak.
She was referring to an annual P4,000 cash gift for Cebu City senior citizens, which Tomas introduced during his term as city mayor.
Also present were Sen. Joker Arroyo, businessman Roberto Aboitiz and other friends, relatives and supporters of the Osmeña clan.
A requiem Mass presided by Fr. Ernesto Javier was celebrated after an overnight vigil at the church, where flower stands spilled onto the aisles and part of the driveway.
Violet and yellow million flowers accented with red roses surrounded her coffin, which was placed in front of the main altar. Beside it was a life-size oil portrait of Lourdes in a yellow terno painted by National Artist Fernando Amorsolo.
Lourdes died on Nov. 6 in a private hospital in Bacolod City, where she had been confined for the past four years after a bout with pneumonia.
She left five children, Serge, Ma. Victoria “Minnie,” Esteban “Steve,” Tomas and Georgia.
In an earlier interview, Georgia said that after Martial Law in the 1970s, her mother moved to Bacolod, where the family has a farm.
About 20 vehicles joined the convoy from the church to the mausoleum more than a kilometer away.
Part of the way, mourners held a foot procession through a 200-meter community road in the interior of Tejero. A marching band led the way.
The coffin was lowered by pulley to a chamber across the resting place of the late Serging Osmeña. Family members and Vice President Binay offered flowers before the tomb was sealed shortly in the afternoon.