Aquino to observe All Souls’ Day privately

PRESIDENT Benigno Aquino III’s observance of All Souls’ Day would be private, a Malacañang official said Sunday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the Palace will not release the schedule on when the President will visit the grave of his parents -- former President Corazon Aquino and former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr. -- at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

“We’re deliberately not placing it on the schedule of the President in order to accord the President and his family some private time,” she told state-run Radyo ng Bayan.

“It is also very rare that the President would have private time especially when they say their prayers to their loved ones,” she added.

President Aquino normally prefers to observe All Souls’ Day in private together with his sisters and other relatives. A mass is normally offered for their dead parents.

Cory, who was known as a democracy icon, died of colon cancer on August 1, 2009. She led the bloodless 1986 People Power Revolution, which toppled the dictatorial leadership of the late Ferdinand Marcos.

Ninoy, meanwhile, was an opposition leader during the Marcos regime. He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport (renamed to Ninoy Aquino International Airport) upon returning home from exile in the United States in 1983. His death catapulted Cory to the limelight and subsequently became the country’s first woman president. (Jill Beltran/Sunnex)