Millions of Filipinos mourned at former Philippine President Corazon "Cory" Aquino's death on August 1, 2009, culminating on her funeral on August 5, 2009. Thousands waited in line to pay respects at her wake, multitudes attended her funeral mass and funeral procession that lasted a little over eight hours, almost as long as her husband's (former Sen. Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino, who fought the dictatorship in the Philippines and was murdered in 1983) funeral procession. Her wake and funeral mass gathered together the country's mighty and strong and the common people. Her funeral mass brought together some of the country's best singers to sing for her. When her body was transferred from the La Salle gym in Ortigas district to the Manila Cathedral a few days before her burial, her procession passed by the Makati district, the country's financial capital and site of many of protest actions that Cory had led as the leading oppositionist in the country. This procession in Makati was an emotional one as her procession received the final confetti shower from tall buildings in the district as it was always done whenever protest actions passed by the streets of the area. People came in droves to Makati, employees went down from their offices to welcome, for the last time, Cory to Makati, and to say goodbye to her.
Her people patiently waited
Her funeral procession on August 5 winded through a number of cities and towns on the way to her final resting place in the Manila Memorial Park in Paranaque City. Again, people in droves were on the streets, walking, running, waving, cheering her name, putting up their banners on which were written various thank you notes to her. Many waited for hours for the funeral procession to pass by their way, never minding the rain that sometimes fell hard, the heat of the sun that occasionally poured out; they also didn't mind the hunger or the thirst or the fatigue--sometimes these were alleviated by sharing their food or drink or some shelter to rest. They came from all walks of life, and in all ages--from toddlers carried on the shoulders of adults, to schoolchildren, to teenagers, to elderly people, to busloads of people from the provinces, to professionals, to blue-collar workers, to vendors and public transport drivers. Cory loved the Filipino people, and they all loved her back, showing this to the fore on all the days of her lying in state and at her burial.
Military in full force
Throughout the days of her wake and her burial, Cory was accorded full military honors, despite her children's refusal for her to have a state funeral, opting to have a private funeral. Generals carried and saluted her coffin, honor guards were beside her coffin at her wake and the full eight or nine hours of her funeral procession, cannon and gun salutes reverberated in military camps--all in honor of their former Commander-in-Chief. The military honor accorded her did seem a bit ironic as the Aquino family, as do many Filipinos, have always thought that the military had a big role during the assassination of Ninoy in 1983 as he landed in the Philippines's airport, back from exile in the USA. Nevertheless, the military was with Cory all the way in her death, up to the moment that the generals had folded the flag that covered her coffin, and handed this over to her children, during the last ceremonies at the cemetery.
Emotions ran high
Cory's funeral procession that started early morning with a funeral Mass ended late at night, with the multitudes still waiting for their beloved President at the gates of the cemetery. After the long flatbed truck had entered the cemetery, the people were to be held at bay, as the ceremonies inside were meant to be among several hundreds only to keep the peace and order in check. But the mass of people could no longer be held at bay, and so they came inside the cemetery, almost near the Aquino burial plot, just as soon as the military had almost finished giving its honors to the former President, and the priest at hand was ready to give the final blessing to Cory. As expected, the Aquino children poured out their emotions at the final ceremonies, before their family was interred, beside her beloved husband.
As the Aquino family wept and cried throughout the whole wake and the burial, so did the nation. As more and more yellow ribbons (Cory carried the yellow color in leading the fight against corruption and tyranny in the country) sprung up everywhere in the country, tears flowed out freely from every Filipino who were there at the wake and funeral, on the streets, on TV watching the daily coverage, while glued to radio broadcasts, and or while glued to Internet streaming broadcasts.
Images of love
Much as I wanted to be there at the wake or at the funeral procession, I couldn't go because of work (in the 1983 burial of Ninoy, I was there along the procession on the streets of Manila). I watched some parts of the ceremonies for Cory's wake and funeral on Internet broadcast (particularly broadcasts of Manila TV stations GMA7 and ABSCBN2), and I've managed to do video captures of some of the coverage. Above are some of the scenes I captured, in-between my crying over the ceremonies. Not all of them are clear pictures, but they still show how much Cory was loved by the people that she and her husband loved so much.In her death, Filipinos have remembered what the country meant to Cory; and they have been galvanized to pick up again where Cory had gone through. To look after their country, to protect it, to ensure a leadership and governance that will not lead the nation astray, and a citizenry that will work hard to make the nation peaceful and prosperous.
Former Philippine President CORAZON COJUANGCO AQUINO, 1933-2009, the country's most-loved president, and everybody's favorite "aunt" (Tita or Aunt Cory, as she was known to all her fellow citizens, whom she led from the shackles of dictatorship in the 1980s via People Power).
I join Filipinos everywhere who are praying for ailing former Philippine President Corazon “Cory” Aquino who was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer in March last year, and is now hospitalized in Manila, with the cancer cells said to have spread across her body. Cory is the woman in yellow who led Filipinos in toppling dictator Marcos in 1986, following the assassination of her husband former Senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr on his return to the Philippines in 1983 at the Philippines airport, after his exile in the USA. Cory is the woman in yellow who came from near anonymity to bravely, if maybe a bit reluctantly at first, to lead the nation’s People Power in ending the abuses and frivolities of a dictatorship. Cory later became the Philippines’s first woman president, inheriting an administration almost plundered into nothingness in economic and social terms. In later years after her presidency, Cory (along with the late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila) continued to be the Filipinos’s leading light against abuses in government, serving as their voice as well as constant reminder that ultimate power resides in the people and real change can only come from citizens who care.Now, Cory is in pain, much as the Philippines is also again in pain, rocked by scandals and controversies that have been hounding its present government, with a president who’s getting the lowest satisfaction ratings ever, and corruption and poverty leering in many corners of society. But Cory is holding on, seemingly not minding the pain and weakness—as her family so attests on her daily condition—as if to give the message to her fellow Filipinos that this is the way it should be, to be strong amid adversities, to not give up amid sufferings, to look beyond challenges into opportunities, to take each day as a blessing and an opportunity to make the present and the future better for each and everyone.
In the 1980s, “yellow fever” gripped the Philippines, as yellow became the symbolic color of the fight against dictatorship, with Cory leading the fight while flashing the "L" sign with her hand, which stood for laban or "fight." Many parts of the country and many Filipinos are now again turning yellow as symbolic support to ailing Cory, as the people as one are rallying behind this fight of her life. Yellow ribbons hang around trees, posts, fences, gates, cars, as people hold healing Masses for Cory, and shout “Cory, di ka nag-iisa (Cory, you are not alone)!” as they once also shouted in support of her husband Ninoy’s sacrifice for the nation, “Ninoy, di ka nag-iisa!”
The “greatest entertainer who ever lived” more than just “king of pop” was how one of the celebrity-speakers described Michael Jackson in the July 7, 2009 memorial for him held in Staples Center, Los Angeles. This description drew thunderous applause from the thousands who were inside the auditorium, and from all the other millions viewing the ceremonies from televisions or Internet streams.
I have a few Jackson 5/Michael Jackson favorites—One Day in Your Life, Blame It on the Boogie, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Happy, I’ll Be There, and a few others—but he wasn’t really up there on top of my list as a favorite singer or entertainer. But now, after his death, I’ve come to realize and appreciate how much really a genius he was as the consummate artist. The various retrospect on his career after his death—his songs, his videos, his performances on stage—that I’ve seen on TV and the Internet have made me an instant fan, or a fan all over again. Clearly, no other entertainer, living or dead, had come close, and perhaps will ever come close (in future years) to Michael’s professional creativity and achievements. As a performing artist whose audience was guaranteed to get much more than their money’s worth, Michael is/was a legion of his own.
For most of Michael’s life, and now in even in his death, controversies always hounded him. I don’t know the real score on those controversies and allegations against him. But Michael now faces his Creator. All is now up to him and the Creator. For us he has left behind, we can only thank the Almighty that He gifted us with one Michael Jackson, who superbly entertained us in our lifetime, and will surely be entertaining generations to come with his legacy of music. Michael was 50.
A few hours before Michael died on June 25, 2009, Farrah Fawcett (formerly Farrah Fawcett-Majors when she was starting to make her mark on TV and eventually became a star in the 1970s while still married to Lee Majors, another TV star in the USA, who starred in The Six Million Dollar Man) passed away after her battle with anal cancer. Farrah of the famous Charlie’s Angels, one of most popular TV shows of the 1970s to early 1980s (though she stayed only in the first season and was a guest for some episodes for the next season), bravely fought the cancer that brought down her body, but not her spirit. Farrah eventually lost her battle with the disease. But her gallant stand till the very end against her sickness will be an inspiration for others who have to face life-threatening diseases. The same way that she inspired legions of people as a TV star. Farrah was 62.
Famous as they were, Michael and Farrah, along with the other popular entertainers in my teenage years, were there on everybody’s music records, TV, radio, notebook covers, lunchboxes, magazines, scrapbooks. Icons like these two people are part of the memories of the years that I shared with my classmates in school and friends in the neighborhood. When icons like them pass away, it makes me go back and remember that part of my life that they touched the most, like it was only yesterday. But part of remembering is also letting go and accepting that these icons are not indestructible, and like any other human beings, they will pass away, too. But I can only thank them for sharing with us their life and their talent.
Thanks Michael, for sharing your music with the world.
Thanks Farrah, for the entertainment and inspiration you gave to the people.
Below is a photo montage I made of these two beautiful people. And Farrah with Lee in earlier years.
Cheese pimiento is one of my favorite sandwich fillings. I have my own mean version of cheese pimiento, which I mix only on special occasions because it takes quite some time to do. But I'm always on the lookout for ready-to-eat cheese pimiento, although most bottled ones I've found really don't taste like the real thing. I've tasted a few good homemade ones though. That's why I was so happy when I discovered not too long ago the Cheese Pimiento Bake of Figaro, a chain of coffee shops in the Philippines. Figaro places a heap of the thing on top of a crispy, round piece of bread (see picture). I love it! Comes in four pieces for a little over a hundred Philippine pesos. Not bad for yummy, quite filling comfort food. These four pieces of cheese pimiento on bread should go very well with coffee. But I'm not really much of a coffee drinker, especially in the aft
ernoon, which would be the usual time that I'd be at the Figaro branch in Trinoma Mall, Quezon City, if I had the yearning for cheese pimiento for my afternoon snack (Filipinos can't do without mid-afternoon snacks). And so I down my Figaro cheese pimiento with just ice-cold water, which is just great for me!
The store runs out
Well, this afternoon though was a big let-down. The day was hot and tiring as I did errands in the morning up to noontime. The weather was really warm. I decided to pass by Trinoma before going home. I just had my lunch before going to Trinoma but I had that feeling of still unfilled space in my tummy. Upon entering Trinoma's ground floor, I eagerly rode the series of escalators going all the way up to the fourth floor of the massive mall, where Figaro is. The rising thought of having my fave snack with ice-cold water made my brain excited, and it was quickly sending happy signals to my tummy (food really excites me, heheh). I became even more excited when I saw from the doorstep of Figaro that my favorite table, which was near some reading materials, was vacant. Alas, when I quickly announced to the cashier that I was taking the Cheese Pimiento Bake, she took a moment to reply and asked instead her co-worker to confirm if their store had this at that moment. NONE, came the crushing reply. I asked her the cashier if there would be some available later in the afternoon (it was then around 2PM). NO, she said. What!!!! No Cheese Pimiento Bake for me??? I wanted to shout that to the cashier, and to shake her at her shoulders. You're so cruel! I wanted to shout that to her, too. But not wanting to disturb with my dramatics the other customers around, I decided to accept my fate quitely, and left in a jiffy. I tried to quite down my excited, and frustated, brain. My tummy was already beginning to accept that it'll have no cheese pimiento to digest this afternoon. But my tastebuds, which had also been tickled too much by my brain, were still making a scene, and wanted to TASTE something, anything, even remotely tasting like cheese pimiento.
Alternative, quickly!
Well, there was THIS quick snack item that I've also lately grown fond of--sharwarma (the Middle Eastern "sandwich") sold by the Firehouse stall at the basement of the mall, near the supermarket. But a little bit of more setback there as Firehouse had run out(!) of chicken shawarma this afternoon, and only had the beef one. Quite grudgingly, I ordered the beef shawarma, although I knew some bits of the beef will be somewhat tough to the bite. And so, my cheese pimiento became beef shawarma. Calling Figaro, please don't run out again of Cheese Pimiento Bake! Run out of coffee, for all I care, but never the cheese pimiento, please. Heheh!
Just a few days ago, I read in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, a Philippine newspaper, how a jobless and nearly destitute female overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in HongKong had found a cache of money and checks near a trashbin where she had been looking for things to sell. She had resorted to scavenging after filing a case against her former employer who allegedly sexually assaulted her. From what I remember reading, she couldn't look for another job because HK law doesn't allow work for foreigners like her who have pending suits against former employers (I wonder if the dude she sued is also prevented from working). Since she has to have money for her daily living, her legal expenses, her documents as an OFW in HK, AND her family back home in the Philippines, including children who have to go to school, scavenging has been her last resort to earn some HK dollars.
This lady OFW has a golden heart. She didn't allow her financial burdens and other problems to impede her naturally good nature. Even if the money and checks were worth more than a million Philippine pesos, more than enough to make her life much better. She did the only thing that mattered to her then--to trace the company whose name was on the envelope that held the money. And so the money's owner and the OFW met quickly afterwards, and the money--full, intact--was returned. The grateful owner gifted the honest OFW with a can of biscuits. The OFW was soon back to her "normal" routine of scavenging and sending a few pesos to her family in Bambang town in Nueva Vizcaya province, which is in Luzon island, Philippines.
Blessings for her
But things are turning up a little better for the hero OFW. After the Inquirer's article on her honesty and her plight, Philippine politicians in Congress and in her hometown have begun to raise funds to help her and her family. Her hometown is beaming with pride at the heroism of one of their own. Her townmates say that honesty really comes naturally to the locals.
Indeed, as it turns out, I read in a follow-up article today in the Inquirer about the honest OFW that her husband is also a honest fellow, too. The article related how the mister had returned to a passenger of his tricycle (a motorbike with a side car) money that the passenger left behind in his tricycle. The money was noticed by the husband when it scattered on the tricycle after he hit a hump.
So, now, hopefully, with the way things are going back home for the honest OFW, her troubles will be greatly eased, and she can worry a little less on how her children can go on with their schooling.
By the way, the OFW's name is Ms Mildred Perez, 38 years old.
P.S. As I checked now the Inquirer's online site to get the OFW's name, I see that more blessings are forthcoming to Mildred as I read that Philippine Senator Chiz Escudero's office had already coordinated with Mildred for her plane ticket home, a start-up capital for a small business, and scholarship for her kids. Thanks, Chiz! :)
