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Saturday, November 17, 2007
Dulce Saguisag laid to rest
MANILA –- Former social welfare secretary Dulce Quintans-Saguisag, who died in a vehicular accident in Makati City, was finally laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Friday.
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Her husband, former senator and opposition lawyer Rene Saguisag, was injured in the said accident along with two others.
Mr. Saguisag was not able to attend his wife’s funeral as he is still being treated in the hospital.
Prior to the burial, a necrological service and concelebrated mass was held at the St. Scholastica’s College chapel in Manila at 9 a.m. attended by Dulce’s relatives, friends, and classmates.
Also present during the mass were former Presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada as well as Vice President Noli de Castro.
Estrada was previously expected to skip the mass and go straight to the Manila Memorial Park, but apparently changed his mind and instead proceeded to the necrological service.
Attorney Saguisag was one of Estrada’s lawyers in his plunder case before the Sandiganbayan while Dulce served as the convicted leader’s social welfare secretary in 2000.
Estrada’s son, San Juan Mayor Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, and cab driver-witness Jeofrey Olmaguez also attended the mass.
Olmaguez witnessed the accident last November 8 at the corner of Pasay Road and Osmeña Highway and told the police that the dump truck driven by Manuel Geronimo was speeding at about “100-120 kilometers per hour” when it struck the Saguisags Toyota Grandia van.
During the necrological service, Dulce’s eldest son Rene “Rebo” Saguisag Jr. spoke of the love for his mother as well as her relation with his father, saying “my mother died so that my father could live.”
“I regret the fact that my father couldn’t see her today for the last time. It saddens us that my mother will not be there during our wedding, neither will she be able to hold her grandchildren in the future,” the younger Saguisag said.
Former senator Saguisag was not able to attend the funeral after doctors advised him to stay at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Makati Medical Center where he is being treated.
Dr. Eric Nubla said the Saguisag family may push through with the plan to film the burial so that the former senator can watch the video afterwards.
Rebo spoke about the difficulties that their family is going through right now considering that their father is still confined at Makati Medical Center.
“Imagine what the family has to go through attending to Papa at the hospital and fixing Mama’s burial,” he added.
Rebo and her fiancée, lawyer Jackie Crisologo, is going to get married on December 22.
The Saguisag couple has five children, Rebo, Lara, Popoy, Mickey, and Kaiza, a gymnast and bronze medalist in the last Southeast Asian Games.
Dulce’s sister Alma reminisced about the time they spend together, the shopping, karaoke singing of Dulce’s favorite “Sana’y Wala ng Wakas,” and ballroom dancing.
The couple was on their way home after a ballroom dancing at Byke’s Café in Pasong Tamo, Makati when the accident happened.
Rebo also revealed that Geronimo has sent the family a mass card with his apologies, but added that right now he would not want to see him while the wounds are still fresh in memory.
Geronimo who was charged by the authorities before the Makati City Prosecutor’s Office with three counts of reckless imprudence and was temporarily released from detention after posting a P51,000 bail last Tuesday.
After the mass, Dulce was taken to his final resting place in a 30-vehicle convoy with Traffic Management Group policemen securing the funeral route as it slowly proceeded towards Quirino Avenue and Osmeña Highway to the Manila Memorial Park.
The funeral cortege arrived 12:30 a.m. at the memorial park and was met by relatives and friends as well as her former colleagues in government including former labor secretary Bienvenido Laguesma and former presidential legislative liaison officer Jose Jaime Policarpio Jr. waited.
Estrada also went with the funeral convoy.
Dulce was then laid to rest at a tomb inside the park's Garden of Reverence that she reportedly ordered constructed five years ago.
Burial arrangements included white balloons that were released in the air after the burial accompanied by the playing of the boogie song "In the Mood" to remember Mrs. Saguisag's happy spirit. (AH/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (November 17, 2007 issue)
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