No capitol rites for Cebu vice governor

CEBU, Philippines – The remains of Cebu Vice Gov. Gregorio Sanchez Jr. will not be brought to the provincial capitol despite his being the second highest official in the province.

Eliodoro Sanchez, barangay chairman of Busay, Cebu City and spokesman of the Sanchez family, said the vice governor will no longer be honored at the capitol.

Sanchez said the family and acting Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale have agreed that the provincial board will hold a necrological service at Crystal Palace after its session today.

The spokesman did not categorically state why the vice governor’s remains will not be brought to the capitol. But speculations are rife that the reason is the conflict between Sanchez and Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia.

Magpale said it was the vice governor’s family who requested that the provincial board’s necrological service be held at the Crystal Palace.

There was a suggestion to bring the vice governor’s remains to the Malacañang sa Sugbo, being the highest elected official of the Liberal Party (LP) in the province. But his family turned it down.

The family prefers that the remains stay at the Crystal Palace of Cosmopolitan Funeral Homes in Nivel Hills, Lahug, Cebu City until the burial on May 8 at the Queen City Memorial Garden, their spokesman said.

On Saturday night, LP members offered a Mass for Sanchez. LP provincial chairman Hilario Davide III said they have not yet received any information whether President Aquino would visit the wake.

Aquino has sent flowers while the LP posted its condolences on its website.

“LP would like to convey its deepest condolences and sympathies to the family of the late Cebu Vice Governor Greg Sanchez. May his soul rest in peace,” the party said on its website.

Sanchez, 68, succumbed to lung cancer last Friday at the Chong Hua Hospital.

He had been confined in different hospitals in Cebu City and Manila since January. – Freeman News Service