An Army officer fixes the Philippine flag that is draped over the casket of late Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. carried by Honor Details in Laguindingan Airport, Misamis Oriental on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019. |CDND Photo/Froilan Gallardo
LAGUINDINGAN AIRPORT – The late former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel jr., fondly called “Tatay Nene” by his townmates, has finally arrived home in Cagayan de Oro where his struggle for freedom and democracy started more than forty years ago.
The Philippine Air Force C-295 twin-prop plane bearing the white casket of the late senator touched down around 5 p.m. as the sun sets in the Laguindingan Airport tarmac.
The mood was somber as an Army Honor Battalion performed the arrival honors, as the white casket bearing the remains of Senator Pimentel was lowered from the plane.
Local Officials led by Mayor Oscar Moreno followed the Army detail carrying the casket to the waiting black hearse that carried his remains in an hour-long slow convoy to the the Cagayan de Oro City Hall.
Hundreds of residents lined the highway between Laguidingan and Cagayan de Oro City and used their cellphones to light the highway where the convoy passed.
The casket was then brought to the City Tourism Hall of the City Hall building, where thousands of the city’s residents have been waiting for their turn to pay their last respect to a beloved son of Cagayan de Oro.
The public viewing will last until this Thursday, October 24. On Friday, his remains will be flown back to Manila for the still to be announced burial date at the Heritage Memorial Park in Taguig City.
Pimentel, 85, died in a hospital in Manila on October 20, 2019.
Most of these officials who joined in the arrival convoy and were at the City Tourism Hall were with Pimentel when he along with other leading opposition leaders were detained by the late President Ferdinand Marcos.
Pimentel was jailed four times during the Martial Law period.
Cagayan de Oro Councilor Edgar Cabanlas recalled how as a young law student he followed Pimentel to the mountains in Misamis Oriental to meet the communist rebels.
Cabanlas said it were those times in between his incarceration and when Pimentel was at liberty to roam .
“I saw in him a leader who had his ears for everyone. He wanted to learn about the communist rebellion and found a common ground to fight the Marcos dictatorship,” Cabanlas said.
Cabanlas said that when the residents of Cagayan de Oro gathered the courage to hold street demonstrations, the late Pimentel was always there.
“He was there to give us more courage as well as be concerned for our lives,” Cabanlas said.
City Administrator Teddy Sabugaa said the defining moment of Pimentel in Cagayan de Oro was when as mayor he passed a city ordinance declaring the last week of May every year as Press Freedom Week.
Sabugaa said it was the Cagayan de Oro Press Club that was given the honor to celebrate the Press Freedom Week.
“That defines the foundation of liberty in our city. We always speak what is in our minds without fear of reprisal,” Sabugaa said.
Mayor Moreno said the philosophies and principles of Senator Pimentel did not die with him.
“His spirit lives on especially among the young, “ Moreno said./elb