Belmonte to lead Doña Aurora reburial

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. will lead tomorrow a funeral procession at the Quezon Memorial Circle that will reunite of the remains of Doña Aurora Aragon and the late President Manuel Quezon after 27 years.

The reburial ceremony, which coincides with the 56th death anniversary of Doña Aurora, will start at Manila’s North Cemetery, where her daughter Zenaida Quezon Avancena, will formally receive the remains from Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.

According to the Quezon City Public Affairs and Information Office, President Arroyo will personally witness the transfer and re-interment ceremonies.

From the North Cemetery, a motorcade will bring the remains to the Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City, where a memorial Mass will follow at about 10 a.m.

From the Sto. Domingo Church, the motorcade proceeds to the Quezon Memorial Shrine in Quezon City, where a funeral procession led by Belmonte will finally reunite the former First Couple.

Doña Aurora’s remains will be kept inside a black granite crypt beside the tomb of her husband.

The former first lady died on April 29, 1949 in an ambush in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija. Also killed in the attack were her eldest daughter, Marian Aurora, brother-in-law, Philip Buencamino and the incumbent Quezon City mayor at that time, Ponciano Bernardo.

The late President Quezon who is the founding father of the city, died on Aug. 1, 1944 in Lake Sarawak, New York City. The remains were first buried at the Arlington Cemetery in New York and was interred at the North Cemetery shortly after World War II on Aug. 1, 1946. – Perseus Echeminada