Former President Benigno S.C. Aquino III on Saturday was laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park, next to his parents former President Corazon C. Aquino and former Senator Benigno S. Aquino Jr.
Full military honors were given as the urn carrying Mr. Aquino’s ashes arrived at the cemetery in Parañaque City. The urn was placed on a funeral carriage filled with yellow flowers as it was brought to the gravesite.
Mr. Aquino’s youngest sister Kris placed the urn inside the white tomb.
Due to restrictions on mass gatherings, the funeral of the Philippines’ 15th president was attended only by family members, close friends and a few supporters.
However, hundreds of Filipinos — many wearing yellow and waving yellow ribbons — lined the streets as the funeral convoy passed en route to the cemetery.
Earlier on Saturday, a funeral mass was held at the Church of the Gesu at Mr. Aquino’s alma mater Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City.
In his homily, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas described Mr. Aquino as a “brave, headstrong visionary.”
“The best eulogy tribute that we can pay to our President Noy is to bring back, recover, preserve, safeguard, and never again to compromise our dignity as a people and the decency of our leaders as servants, not bosses,” he said.
“Maybe, and I do hope, his death will spark another fire within us to resurrect his example of decency and integrity. The sincerest form of tribute to dear President Noy is to relive his life lessons of decency and ethical leadership, recover honor and dignity in our public and private lives among us private citizens and our leaders. His mortal remains are now ashes, but his integrity and decency must resurrect through us and in the leaders we choose.”
Mr. Aquino, 61, was president of the Philippines from 2010 to 2016. He died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday due to renal failure as a result of diabetes. He is survived by his four sisters. – Cathy Rose A. Garcia