EDSA 20

MANILA — It seemed like People Power all over again.

But there was no Cory Aquino in her signature yellow dress waving back at the adoring crowd.

Instead, it was her flower-adorned casket on top a six-wheeler truck that passed by. Tied to the vehicle was a white tarpaulin with the words “Mahal ka namin (We love you), Cory.”

For the last time, Cory drew multitudes of Filipinos, mostly in yellow shirts and flashing the “L” sign for laban (fight) to the birthplace of people power, the highway known as EDSA as thousands upon thousands waved goodbye to the housewife who became the enduring face of democracy.

EDSA was rendered a sea of yellow yesterday.

Yellow balloons were seen on the sides of the buildings while thick yellow confetti rained on the streets in sunny weather as well-wishers from all ages bore the harsh heat of the late morning sun for a glimpse of the cortege carrying Aquino's remains that was to take her from De La Salle Green Hills to the Manila Cathedral.

The funeral convoy of Aquino, whose casket was placed on a truck filled with flowers. Four honor guards stood by Aquino's flower-adorned casket. Around 50 policemen from escorted the procession, which moved slowly because of the huge crowds.

While most of the students, workers and residents lined the heart of Makati's business district, many were perched on building rooftops or ledges, or peeking through windows.

Shouts of "Cory! Cory" could be heard every now and then. Others clapped and even cheered when the cortege, guarded by four honor soldiers, passed them by.

Many flashed the "Laban" sign, in allusion to Aquino's former party and recalling memories of the 1986 Edsa Revolution, which first catapulted her into power.

The scenes were reminiscent of 1986 when Aquino, then the opposition’s presidential candidate, led massive protests against dictator Ferdinand Marcos whom she accused of cheating in the snap presidential elections. The protests eventually led to a bloodless people power revolt that ousted Marcos and installed her as the first female president of the Philippines.

On the corner of Ayala and Paseo de Roxas, the convoy stopped for about 15 minutes as if to pay respects to the monument of Aquino's better half, former senator Benigno Aquino Jr.

There the people joined in singing "Bayan Ko" while flashing the Laban sign, and prayed three Hail Marys for the deceased former President.

Senior Supt. Carlos De Sagun, chief of the Mandaluyong police, said about 30,000 to 40,000 people from Ortigas Avenue to Boni Avenue took to Edsa. "The crowd was so thick especially on the sidewalks and pedestrian overpasses," he said.

Before the motorcade, a Mass was celebrated in the De La Salle Green Hills gymnasium in Mandaluyong City, where Aquino had lain for two days.

In his homily, Bishop Florentino Cinense said he hoped the stories being told about the late president would continue to be told and retold, for they revealed the "nation's need to have someone to embody our deepest yearnings and fondest hopes."

"We see in President Aquino the best in every one of us. The more we praise her, the more we reveal that we too desire to be like her," he said.

The bishop recalled that Aquino had been a reluctant politician: "She was prevailed upon to run only after prayer and much discernment, and she was doing it not for herself but for her country."

The former leader’s children escorted her remains, including her daughter Kris Aquino, who was with her husband, basketball player James Yap and their children Joshua and James Jr. Mrs. Aquino’s son, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy”Aquino III was at the cathedral ahead of his sisters.

Aquino is scheduled to be interred at the Manila Memorial Park on Wednesday, a non-working day..

Accompanied by solemn music from a string quartet, Aquino's casket was rolled into the Manila Cathedral around 4 p.m. by police generals, with her family led by Kris and Noynoy.

Bishops Broderick Pabillo and Socrates Villegas welcomed her remains at the entrance of the church, which was almost filled to the capacity.

The Catholic prelates blessed and said prayers over the coffin of Aquino, a devout Catholic who attributed her ascent from being a housewife to president to divine will.

During the liturgical rites, Villegas recounted how Sister Lucia of Portugal talked to the late Jaime Cardinal Sin about Aquino. Both Sin and Aquino led the EDSA Revolution.

Villegas said Lucia asked Sin to give Aquino a rosary she made and told the late Manila archbishop to give Aquino the message that she "is God's gift to your people."

Villegas said the late Cardinal replied: "But she is suffering." Lucia said: "Like all God's gift, she will suffer."

In the last days of her life and during her difficult presidency, Aquino suffered "for us", fulfilling Lucia's prophesy, Villegas said.

"But this morning we saw from La Salle to Intramuros the pain has ended. Alleluia. The battle is over, the victory is won," Villegas said.

After the Catholic rites, a contingent of Chinese-Filipino community members performed an ancestral rite for Aquino. Three schoolchildren bearing lighted incense sticks bowed thrice in front of the coffin and offered flowers.

The tradition-bound Catholic Church broke its own protocol to bestow on the former president the honor of being the first lay person to have her wake at the country's historic Manila Cathedral. Such privilege is reserved only for the archbishop of Manila.

The last wake held at the Manila Cathedral was for Cardinal Sin who passed away in 2005.

Villegas said not even bishops and priests could have their wake at the cathedral.

"(The privilege) is not given to any ordinary citizen, not even us bishops or priests. Only the archbishop of Manila and Cory are given that honor," Villegas said.

Also called the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Manila Cathedral is considered the mother of all churches in the country.

The special bond between the late Cardinal Sin and former president Aquino were very much on the minds of the clergy who prepared the cathedral for Ms Aquino's wake.

The Aquino family asked that the wake and funeral mass be the Manila Cathedral. Rosales readily agreed even if that meant breaking their own protocol.

The family apparently thought first of having the wake at the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City where the wake of the late senator Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino was held after his assassination in 1983.

Noynoy said relations with those who currently run the church have been strained. /Inquirer

‘Cory gave us back our dignity’

Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is scheduled to officiate a Mass tonight for former president Cory Aquino during her wake at the Manila Cathedral.

He leaves for Manila today and will give a homily that highlights what Aquino gave back to the country.

“Corazon Aquino did not promise a land for us to enter and own. But in each of our minds, we imagined utopias that suited our tastes, and so began the unraveling of the promise of EDSA,” according to a copy of Vidal’s prepared homily.

“Cory was drawn to our struggles in a most personal way of the loss of a beloved. But what pain and anger she felt, she transformed into courage and grace in the face of arrogance and insensitivity.”

Vidal said that after People Power in 1986, the people had a free hand to choose political leaders.

“But we did not always choose wisely. We were granted back our power to protest, but we protested at every turn. At every level of society, there was only one desire to fulfill to protect one's interest, to further one's lot, to extend one's territory,” he said.

Vidal lamented how people “only vote for those faces we see on our television screens. We have wandered far from the land we have promised ourselves.”

He stressed this seeming failure to live up to the ideals of a responsible democratic country is evident in different levels of society.

“Politicians began to apportion for themselves, businessmen cornered contracts, militant groups commenced their divisive propaganda, military adventurists resumed their adventure. Even the press, free from the schackles of tyranny, became quite irresponsible in sowing intrigues and innuendos,” he said.

Vidal said the people had forgotten that “the promise of Cory was simply this, that she would give us back what has been taken away from us.”

“For she will not take it for herself. She will even give up her own life if only she can give us back our life, our dignity, our freedom.”

“Selfless giving was her one great promise, and she fulfilled it not only when she took power at EDSA, not only when she governed us for six years, but most importantly, at the peaceful transfer of power from her to the next duly elected president in 1991,” he said.