Sin buried with full military honors on Tuesday

Jaime Cardinal Sin will be accorded full military and state honors when he is buried on Tuesday in a crypt beneath Manila Cathedral, where other Filipino bishops are interred.

President Arroyo has announced a week of national mourning for Sin, even as hundreds of mourners filed past his coffin yesterday.

Mrs. Arroyo also ordered Philippine flags to be flown at half-mast from Saturday until the period of mourning ends on Tuesday.

Sin’s secretary, Father Rufino Sescon, said Sin’s flag-draped coffin will be presented at 9 a.m. and will be accorded military honors at the steps of the cathedral.

It will then be placed in a horse-drawn carriage for a procession around the Plaza de Roma in front of the cathedral.

After the procession, the coffin will be stopped before the steps of the cathedral and be honored with a gun salute. A Philippine flag draped over the coffin will then be folded and handed by the President to either Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales or Sin’s relatives.

The casket will then be brought inside the cathedral at noon and taken to the crypt for interment. Sin will rest beside the remains of former Manila archbishop Rufino Cardinal Santos, his immediate predecessor.

Sescon said Sin had chosen the spot where he wished to be buried during an earlier visit to the cathedral.

"He never talked about his death. But I remember that when we went down the crypt, he asked me where he would be buried. He asked where his place was, and he pointed to a spot next to the tomb of Archbishop Gabriel Reyes," Sescon recalled. "His wish will be followed."

Only 50 people will be allowed to accompany Sin’s coffin to its final resting place. Among them are the President, Papal Nuncio Antonio Franco, Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, Davao Archbishop and Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines president Fernando Capalla, some dignitaries, selected bishops and members of Sin’s family.

Sin’s handwritten letters and other memorabilia will be collected and sent to a museum that will be built at Cardinal Sin Village — an urban poor housing project in Punta, Sta. Ana, Manila.