2 Ecija dads make their marks by attending wakes

SAN JOSE CITY - Local politicians can learn a lesson or two from these two councilors who, since their election in 1998, have gained popularity for painstakingly attending lamayan (wakes) around this city.

By their estimates, councilors Albert Cukingnan, 51, and Joseph Ortiz, 35, said they must have attended about 800 wakes since finishing first and fifth, respectively, in the 1998 councilor race. They go to some 10 to 16 wakes a week.

The two said they missed only about 20 wakes. Why? "Either the dead was not from this city, the dead was buried immediately, there was bad weather like a typhoon or we lost our way," Ortiz said.

"But even if we failed, we tried to make up by at least attending the interment," he added. No wonder they have been dubbed the "patay councilors."

Call it politicking, but their method is effective, if only for the purpose of name recall. In fact, relatives of the dead do not find the lamayan complete without the presence of the two councilors, even engaging in bets -- believe it or not -- on whether the popular tandem would show up or not.

Cukingnan said he and Ortiz became "wake partners" immediately after the 1998 elections. Both belonging to Lakas-NUCD, they used to go to wakes separately.

"I noticed that each time I would go to a wake, Councilor Cukingnan was also there so I told him that we go together," Ortiz recalled. "From then on, we have prepared an itinerary of the wakes that we would attend."

They said they keep themselves posted on deaths in the city through their barangay coordinators or agents of funeral parlors, or when they visit the villages themselves.

Both councilors are well-aware of the political intrigues that come with attending wakes. But Ortiz said they are not politicking, but are merely doing something they have long done before.

"Long before we became politicians, we had long been practicing it. Besides, we feel it is our duty to be with them in their hour of need," he said.