2,000 attend burial of Cortes matriarch

CEBU, Philippines - More than 2,000 Mandauehanons braved the rain walking half kilometer during the burial yesterday afternoon of the Celestina “Narsing” Cabungcal Cortes, the mother of Mandaue Mayor Jonas Cortes.

Celestina, wife of the late Mayor Demetrio “Boy” Cortes and daughter-in-law of the late Mayor Ariston Cortes, died from breast cancer last July 8 at the Chong Hua Hospital. She was 83.

Monsignor Adelito Abella of the National Shrine of Saint Joseph officiated the Requiem Mass around 3 p.m. Mayor Cortes, the 13th of Celestina’s 14 children, thanked the attending doctors of his mother and those who had sympathized with them.

“We miss but you will always remain in our hearts,” he said.

After the Holy Communion, Herminio Cortes, the eldest, recalled the simplicity, prayerfulness and hard work of their mother.

Herminio, director of the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (ERUF), said when their father became the mayor, their mother did not go onstage during the inauguration.

“Kong socialite ko, akong mama anti-social,” he said, adding that although she was not religious she was prayerful.

The salary of their father as mayor was not enough to raise all the 14 children so their mother worked hard by selling all kinds of wares.

Except for Maria Luz who is abroad, all the children of Celestina were present, including the adopted Niño Jesus and John Paul.

Among the personalities present during the interment were Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, Borbon Mayor Butch Sepulveda, Provincial Board Members Wenceslao Gakit and Victor Maambong, former PB Luigi Quisumbing and his grandfather Norberto Quisumbing, Mandaue City Vice Mayor Carlo Fortuna, city councilors Jimmy Lumapas and Diosdado Suico, and the barangay captains.

The interment was held at the family’s mausoleum at the city cemetery in barangay Guizo. — Flor Z. Perolina/LPM   (THE FREEMAN)