Robredo wake evokes Peñafrancia fiesta crowd, mood

Photo from President Aquino’s official Facebook account

NAGA CITY—During the last vigil for Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo throngs of mourners filed in a single line that snaked some 60 meters from the gates into Basilica Minore where the image of his beloved “Ina,” the Our Lady of Peñafrancia, hovered on a pedestal near the altar.

Since he was 16 years old, the late secretary had steadfastly joined processions for the Ina every second Friday of September.

He always found time to be a “voyador,” one of the volunteer male image bearers of the icon during its 3-kilometer journey from the  Basilica Minore in Balatas village to Naga Metropolitan Cathedral.

Senior Police Officer 2 Randy Solano, who was at the command center on a road beside the basilica, said the number of people who came in and out of the church compound reached 50,000 to 100,000 from past 11 p.m. on  Sunday to 10 a.m. on Monday morning.

Solano said more than 1,200 police personnel were deployed inside and outside the premises of the basilica.

He said buses and other vehicles came in with mourners from Laguna, Samar and other provinces in Bicol.

Souvenirs for sale

Evoking the Peñafrancia fiesta’s mood, a number of vendors outside the church compound were hawking on Balatas Road Robredo T-shirts and souvenirs such as refrigerator magnets, pins, nail cutters and umbrellas.

The multitude of mourners gathered in the yard of the basilica.  People sat on monobloc chairs under wide tents, watching the LED wide screen showing of ANC’s “Storyline” edition of Robredo’s journey in government service.

Coming from all walks of life, the crowd clapped at the end of Storyline’s episode and switched to watching the live relay of the coverage of Robredo’s wake where people queued up to pay their last respects.

After touching the sealed casket, a few hundred people still joined the rest of the mourners in the yard where local bands were playing live music.

The crowd and the music continued until past midnight.

Like in the Peñafrancia festival, hotels in the city were fully booked.