Doy buried today

President Arroyo will confer a posthumous Order of Lakandula, Rank of Bayani (Hero), to former Vice President Salvador Laurel in today’s state funeral rites for him.

Laurel’s ashes will be buried this morning at the Libingan ng mga Bayani at Fort Bonifacio in Makati City.

The conferment would come after eulogies from Mrs. Arroyo and former President Fidel Ramos. Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales will officiate the necrological Mass at the nearby Santuario de San Antonio in Makati City.

Celia Laurel, the Vice President’s widow, will give a statement after the eulogies and conferment of the posthumous award.

Mrs. Arroyo will join the funeral cortege for the one-hour state burial rites that will begin at exactly 11 a.m. She will turn over a Philippine flag to Laurel’s widow.

Mrs. Arroyo earlier issued a proclamation declaring a week-long national mourning and ordering all flags at government offices flown at half mast.

Mrs. Arroyo said Laurel was a "patriot and a statesman" for having "devoted his life to selfless, dedicated and sincere service to our country and our people."

Yesterday, Laurel’s ashes were brought to his hometown of Tanauan, Batangas, for a necrological services at the St. John the Evangelist Church. His ashes were then brought to the Batangas provincial capitol for a memorial service.

In his eulogy, Sen. Manuel Villar told the hundreds of local residents and officials at the necrological rites that the country lost a "national treasure."

Laurel — who staunchly opposed the brutal Marcos dictatorship — died of cancer last week at the Stanford Hospital and Clinics in San Francisco, where he had been undergoing medical treatment for lymphoma, or cancer of the lymphoid tissue.

When Laurel woke up from a 21-day coma, he told his family who were by his side, "I want to go home and be with my kababayans (townmates) before I’m laid to rest," former Batangas congressman Jose Macario Laurel IV told mourners in Tanauan, quoting his uncle. That was one of his uncle’s last wishes, he said.

The son of former President Jose Laurel and a doctor of law from Yale University, Laurel served under former President Corazon Aquino from 1986 to 1992. He was also a senator and briefly headed the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Laurel and Mrs. Aquino were sworn into office on Feb. 25, 1986, following the EDSA people power revolt that toppled late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Laurel is best remembered for giving up his bid for the presidency during the run-up to the February 1986 "snap" elections in favor of Mrs. Aquino to avoid splitting the anti-Marcos vote and unify the political opposition. — Marichu Villanueva, Arnell Ozaeta