Residents of Hinigaran town carrying candles and torches will line the streets to welcome the arrival of the remains of Rep. Ignacio Arroyo Jr. Monday night, which is expected to be accompanied by his brother, former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, partner Grace Ibuna, and other members of his family, Fr. Greg Patiño said yesterday.

Patiño, the Hinigaran parish priest, said the arrival of the remains of the congressman of the fifth district of Negros Occidental will also be heralded by a burst of firecrackers, Hinigaran being the pyrotechnics capital of Negros Occidental.

The body is expected to arrive at the Bacolod Silay-Airport in Silay City at about 6 p.m. and friends of the congressman will join a caravan that will accompany the hearse carrying his remains to Hinigaran town where it is expected to arrive at about 8 p.m. Monday, said Negros Occidental Board Member Melvin Ibañez, a close friend of Arroyo, who has been finalizing the arrangements for his wake.

Arroyo’s remains will lie in state at the St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church of Hinigaran starting Monday night until early Thursday morning when it is brought back to Bacolod-Silay Airport to be flown back to Manila, Ibañez added.

Arroyo died in London after a long battle with cirrhosis of the liver on Jan 26. He was 61. He was on his third term as congressman of the fifth district of Negros Occidental having been elected in 2004.

Patiño said that while Arroyo’s body lies in state at the Hinigaran Church a regular mass will be held on Tuesday at 6 a.m., followed by a necrological service arranged by the Department of Education from 2 to 5 p.m. and a concelebrated mass at 6 p.m.

On Wednesday a regular mass will be held at 6 a.m. and another at 6 p.m. to be attended by the officials of the fifth district of Negros Occidental, he said.

At 3 a.m. Thursday, send-off rites will be held that will include a burst of firecrackers, Patiño said, and the remains will be brought back to the Bacolod Silay Airport to be flown back to Manila for the wake to resume at the Arroyo ancestral home in La Vista.

The congressman will be laid to rest beside his mother, Lourdes Tuason-Arroyo, at the family mausoleum at the North Cemetery Friday morning, Ibañez said.*CPG

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