A Mass Requiem in Manila

By George Russell.

Aquino is buried amid outpourings of mourning and militancy

For days, hundreds of thousands of mourners had filed past his glass-covered coffin in suburban Manila. Countless tears had been shed; calls for insurrection had been voiced. Finally, there were only simple things left to say over the body of the murdered folk hero before it was laid to rest. Jaime Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Manila, knew that well as he stood in front of a quiet crowd of mourners in the Quezon City Church of Santo Domingo. The prelate gazed upon the remains of Philippine Opposition Leader Benigno ("Ninoy") Aquino Jr., and announced the theme of the funeral oration that would be carried across his troubled nation. It was a single word: "Peace!"

Sin's invocation was first of all a prayer for the soul of the bloodied corpse before him: the earthly remains of the country's most famous and charismatic opponent-in-exile of the authoritarian rule of visibly ailing President Ferdinand Marcos, 65. Long regarded as Marcos' presidential successor before the country's strongman declared martial law in 1972, Aquino spent 7 1/2A years in Philippine jails on charges of murder, illegal possession of firearms and subversion, and three more years of exile in the U.S. Ignoring innumerable threats and an official death sentence against him, Aquino returned home on Aug. 21. Within 30 seconds of his arrival at Manila International Airport, he was murdered by a single shot from an assassin's .357 Magnum revolver.

Sin's funeral refrain was also intended as a call for reconciliation in the populous (53 million) Philippines, which may face its worst political crisis in decades because of Aquino's murder. The assassination seared the country's consciousness and may have dealt a mortal blow to the idea of a nonviolent and nonmilitary succession in the Philippines after Marcos. The prospect of upheaval, in turn, threatens vital U.S. interests in the strategic islands.

Few Filipinos were yet concerned with the broader consequences of the Cardinal's plea for social peace. Their concern was with Aquino. Nonetheless, after days of public viewing of the martyr's corpse, the crowds respected the Aquino family's wish for a relatively private funeral. Among the nonfamily members present at the service were officials of the U.S. (Ambassador Michael Armacost), Japan, Canada, Australia and the European Community, which sent representatives despite the Philippine foreign ministry's disapproval. No one from the Marcos regime came to the funeral.

After the ceremonies were over, Aquino's plain wooden coffin, draped with the Philippine national flag, was carried out of the church by 16 pallbearers amid cheers and chants of "Ninoy. Ninoy." When the coffin was placed atop the flower-bedecked platform of a flatbed truck, a crowd that had gathered before dawn went wild. Police estimated that, despite torrential rains, more than 1 million people had gathered along the 19-mile route between the Santo Domingo Church and the Manila Memorial Park cemetery.

The funeral procession took ten hours to reach the cemetery. During that time, the mood of the accompanying Filipinos shifted back and forth between mourning and militancy, although the crowd never abandoned an impressive collective discipline. But gradually the participants became aware that they were engaged in the largest public demonstration seen in the country since Marcos' imposition of martial law. Groups of youngsters sang folk songs, and as the cortege passed near the Malacariang Palace, the President's official residence, shouts of Democrasya, Kalayaan, Himagsikan! (democracy, freedom, revolution) were heard.

Violence broke out only after dark, while Aquino's body was being laid into a temporary cement sepulcher, where it will remain until members of his family can agree on a final resting place. Before masons had cemented the vault closed, several thousand youths returned to the center of Manila, within a block of Malacanang, beating pots and pans and shouting, "Laban!" (fight). They were met by squads of police toting guns and riot shields. As the youths threw rocks and small homemade grenades, the police waded in, eventually dispersing the demonstrators by shooting into the air. At the end of the confrontation, one student had been killed and several police wounded.

Marcos kept a low profile during the days following Aquino's death. One of his main activities, however, was to act as host at a dinner, to the dismay of U.S. officials, for visiting Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon, and to declare to his guest that "unfortunately you came at this dark hour, but I think we will get over it." Marcos reiterated his conviction that the only people who had gained from Aquino's assassination were "local Communists."

Certainly the odds against a peaceful transition to post-Marcos democracy had tragically lengthened. Deprived of their most visible leader, the President's moderate opponents called for Marcos' resignation and for the formation of a caretaker government prior to national elections. The moderates, however, grouped in an umbrella organization called UNIDO (United Nationalist Democratic Organization), stopped short of calling for a boycott of parliamentary elections scheduled for next year.

Philippine leftists were equally cautious. Some agreed with the conventional wisdom that the death of Aquino meant the death of the political center. Others wondered whether Aquino's martyrdom had not galvanized a hitherto silent majority of moderates. In any event, no one was rushing to take advantage of last week's outpouring of emotion. "It would not take a lot to ignite something in the present political climate," said a leftist with links to the Communist leadership. "But once you ignite that spark here, we would have a military government, and [the left-wing organizations] don't want that."

The government moved a small step toward explaining the assassination by identifying the gunman who allegedly shot Aquino. The murderer, authorities said, was Rolando Galman y Dawang, "a notorious killer, a gun for hire, who had reportedly been used by various elements, including organized syndicated crime, or by subversive elements." That description only compounded the mystery. If the killer was a hired gun, who hired him? Why did it take nine days to identify a well-known gunman? How did he know which plane Aquino would be taking? How did he breach the heavy airport security? A five-member commission appointed by Marcos will begin looking for answers this week. It was a measure of the President's credibility that few Filipinos expected anything to come of it. --By George Russell. Reported by Sandra Burton and Nelly Sindayen/ Manila

With reporting by Sandra Burton, Nelly Sindayen This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.