As the moving funeral mass for Corazon Aquino ended at the Manila Cathedral yesterday morning, jeepney drivers in Bacolod City held their own send-off as a show of love for the former president

About 45 jeepneys with yellow ribbons, headlights on and horns blaring drove from Barangay Alijis to the Bacolod public plaza to honor her.

Negros Occidental Gov. Isidro Zayco yesterday said the tributes to Aquino and the sea of people who turned out on the streets despite the rain as her funeral cortege inched its way from the Manila Cathedral to the Manila Memorial Park for eight hours showed that Cory is truly loved by the Filipino people.

“It was very touching to see, it showed that people, after all, truly appreciate the democracy she gave us,” Zayco said.

Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the country has reached a new emotional high that is indeed reminiscent of the 1986 people power revolution.

“It tells us that the spirit of EDSA is still very much alive, but at the same time I feel what captured the emotional imagination of the people is that, while Cory was lying in state so much was said, not only of Cory as a leader, but as she was as a person…how good a mother she was, which made her very much human,” Leonardia said.

Former Gov. Daniel Lacson Jr., who went to the Manila Cathedral to condole with the Aquino family, said “Cory has gone up to heaven to meet with our Lord and have her well deserved eternal rest. No mortal can hurt her now and her spirit of love will be with us forever. She will be a powerful intercessor for our country. Paalam (goodbye) and thank you so much Mrs. President.”

In Bacolod, the participants of the caravan for Aquino yesterday were from the Barangay Alijis Roundtripper Drivers and Operators Association-United Negros Drivers Association.

The caravan was our way of showing our love and bidding farewell to President Cory, BARDOA-UNDOC president Oscar Tiauson said.

For most of the day yesterday, traffic in Bacolod was slow as most people stayed home to watch Aquino’s requiem mass and  funeral cortege from the Manila Cathedral to the Manila Memorial Park.*CPG

back to top