AS SEEN ON TV
Buried in confetti
Former President Corazon Aquino is taking the path less traveled, even in death.
When the Aquino family declined a State Funeral for Cory, I was a little disappointed, perhaps a little deprived of the opportunity for the country to honor a true stateswoman and an icon of freedom and democracy. A State Funeral would have celebrated Cory’s achievements, life and times as Philippine president, in an elaborately-structured rite.
This is also supposed to be a rare opportunity to bury a popular president in a long time (Magsaysay was the last). Most of the past presidents of my generation are still alive. Those who have died such as Ferdinand Marcos did not get a State Funeral as memory of his dictatorial regime was fresh on the minds of many when he passed away. Besides, he died in Hawaii.
Mrs. Aquino would and should have been the first president in a long time, to receive such a fitting state tribute, through a series of protocols afforded past presidents.
It begins when the incumbent president makes an official proclamation of a former president’s death. President Gloria Arroyo who was on a state visit to the US when Cory died declared a 10-day mourning period when flags all over the country shall be flown at half mast. Foreign embassies and dignitaries in the Philippines also received books of condolences, all part of the initial protocol.
The Heroes’ Hall of Malacañang Palace is also offered as venue where a past president’s remains may lie in state. The Aquino family chose to hold the wake at De La Salle Greenhills and the Manila Cathedral, as Cory Aquino would have wanted it. Again this came as no surprise as even during her rule Mrs. Aquino did not really live in Malacañang. She and her family stayed at the Arlegui Guest House where she kept to her presidential and housewifely ways.
The Philippine flag may also be draped over the casket as a past president is also once the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
As past AFP Commander in Chief, full military honors are to be given separate from any religious burial rites. The military honors include a very slow procession (to a cadence of 100 beats per minute). The order in the funeral procession must be strictly adhered to: Escort Commander, Colors, Band, Funeral Elements, Honorary Poll Bearers, Clergy, Hearse, Active Pall Bearers, Personal Colors, Family, Friends and Patriotic or Fraternal Organization of which the past president is a member.
A State Funeral finally includes the firing party for the gun salute and a drum and bugle corps in the final ceremonies at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. The Philippine flag over the casket will be folded and given to the family at the end of the rites.
If the family wishes to bury the former president in a private memorial park, full military honors may still be given there.
It would have been a pleasure and an honor to give Cory a State Funeral. She is after all a former president who has touched the lives of the nation and the world in more ways than one. Nobody would have opposed a State Funeral if her family wanted one. Her predecessor, Former President Ferdinand Marcos was not as lucky. His family is still struggling with an ethical and moral battle on whether or not his remains should be buried in the Libingan ng mga Bayani. He was after all a good soldier, despite his presidential faults.
When the Arroyo administration offered the Aquino family a State Funeral for Cory, the Aquino family declined. On national television Kris Aquino openly dredged the past by bringing up Malacañang’s undoing, particularly removing Cory Aquino’s 2 bodyguards in 2005 when she heavily criticized the incumbent. Kris says offering a state funeral now, would be ironic as her mother was already stripped of some presidential privileges once.
But I think Mrs. Aquino would not have liked a State Funeral anyway. She had lived a life of simplicity and humility and may even frown at a spectacle of a rigid presidential burial rite.
She rose to the presidency with barely any protocol. Bringing just her hopes and dreams for this country, she came into power with a shower of confetti from the people.
She may just want to leave the exact same way.
(Comments or suggestions are welcome. Email: stanley.palisada@gmail.com)