Funeral Mass for Iggy today off limits to media

MANILA, Philippines - The funeral Mass for the late Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo at the family’s ancestral home in La Vista subdivision, Quezon City today will be off limits to the media, a lawyer of former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo bared yesterday.

Lawyer Benjamin Santos said that the Pasay City Regional Trial Court (RTC) had granted the former president furlough to attend the Mass.

Mrs. Arroyo’s convoy would leave the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) at 7:30 a.m. and proceed to La Vista to attend the 10 a.m. funeral mass today.

“The mass, just like the visit to Iggy’s wake, will be off limits to the media,” he said.

The 61-year-old Iggy died last Jan. 26 in London due to heart attack. He had been in London since October to seek treatment for cirrhosis of the liver.

Santos said Mrs. Arroyo will stay at their ancestral home until the mass is over but will no longer attend the burial at the North Cemetery as provided for by the order of Pasay RTC Branch 112 Judge Jesus Mupas.

Judge Mupas is handling the electoral sabotage charges filed against Mrs. Arroyo, former Maguindanao Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr. and former election officer Lintang Bedol in connection with alleged cheating in the 2007 midterm elections in Maguindanao.

Mupas issued the order after a conference last Monday with both prosecution and defense lawyers on the motion that the former president filed to seek the court’s permission to attend the burial of her brother-in-law.

The judge had earlier allowed Mrs. Arroyo to visit Iggy’s wake from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. last March 1 at their La Vista ancestral home.

Santos said the prosecution panel agreed to allow the former president to attend Mass prior to the burial rites at North Cemetery in Manila.

Prosecutors of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that initially opposed the motion later agreed, since the visit is limited to La Vista and the security problem had already been addressed.

Comelec lawyer Esmeralda Ladra said they did not oppose the motion since it did not include the visit to the North Cemetery where the remains of the former congressman will be buried.

“There is no specific time but as soon as the funeral Mass is over the former president will return to VMMC,” she said.

Grace hugs Alelu

Iggy’s long-time partner Grace Ibuna hugged Alelu Arroyo, 14, the congressman’s daughter with estranged wife Aleli, at the wake in Hinigaran, Negros Occidental last Wednesday.

At about 4 p.m. during the public viewing of the remains of the late congressman, Ibuna and Iggy’s elder daughter Dina Arroyo-Tantoco were standing next to the coffin when Alelu approached to get a glimpse of her father.

Ibuna then hugged Alelu tightly, catching the attention of the people in the church.

Ibuna said that when she hugged Alelu, “That was sincerely from my heart. I promised Cong. Iggy that I would love all those he loved. For the sake of Iggy’s soul so he will go to heaven happily, I reached out.”

Alelu, however, stressed that she did not hug Ibuna.

“I don’t hug anybody. She grabbed me. I just want to forget that horrible event, it was disgusting,” she said.

She went near the coffin to greet her sister Dina and look at her dad, Alelu said.

“I never thought I would be grabbed, because I refused to shake her (Ibuna’s) hand. I only said good afternoon, because I did not want to touch her,” Alelu said.

Alelu also said she hopes that, in the future, Ibuna would not approach her again.

”I seriously want that event to be forgotten and I don’t ever want it to be shown on the news again,” she said.

“I only came to grieve for my dad, with my family and friends, not to be used and humiliated,” she added.

But Ibuna stressed that she wants the congressman’s burial to be as dignified as possible, and she does not want their life to be a “teleserye.”

Meanwhile, Alelu said “I feel happy and at peace when I think of my dad, remembering his warmth and gentleness.” – With Sheila Crisostomo, Danny Dangcalan