Doña Aurora re-burial today at Quezon shrine

The remains of Doña Aurora Aragon Quezon will be laid to rest today next to the tomb of her husband, the late President Manuel Luis Quezon, after a brief but fitting ceremony today at the Quezon Memorial Shrine in Quezon City, the Quezon family announced yesterday.

April 28 also marks the 56th death anniversary of the revered former First Lady.

Ricky Quezon Avancena, family spokesman, said that the re-interment of Doña Aurora’s remains have been coordinated with the National Historical Institute, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Manila Mayor Lito Atienza.

"In heaven where she is now, my grandmother would be too happy with the re-internment of her remains next to the tomb of her beloved husband," said Avancena.

A 10 a.m. Mass will be held at the Sto. Domingo Church, to be attended by next of kin, friends and associates of the Quezon family, before the re-interment.

In December 1918, she married her first cousin Manuel L. Quezon.

During her husband’s political life, Aurora Quezon stayed in the background, involving herself with women’s organizations such as the National Federation of Women’s Clubs, of which she was honorary chairman.

She was very active in the campaign to give women the right to vote, which succeeded in 1937. She was the first First Lady to reside in Malacañang.

She spent a lot of time managing their farm, Kaledian in Arayat, Pampanga, to demonstrate how social justice could be applied to landlord-tenant relation.

She accompanied her husband into exile in the US during World War II and when he died on Aug. 1, 1944, Mrs. Quezon moved to California.

There she involved herself with working with the Red Cross while her daughters trained and worked as volunteer nurses’ aides in the Los Angeles County General Hospital, while awaiting their return to the Philippines.

Upon her return to the Philippines in 1945, she was offered to run for the Senate but she declined.

Time Magazine in 1946 said about Mrs. Quezon, "thousand of Filipinos regard her as a combination of Queen Mother and patron saint."

In 1947, the Philippine National Red Cross was established and Mrs. Quezon became the first chairperson serving in that capacity until her death.

She received honorary doctorates from the University of Sto. Tomas and from the University of Michigan. She was given the Ozanam Award by the Ateneo de Manila University and Pope Pius VII bestowed upon her the Pro Elessia et Pontifice Cross.

On April 28, 1949 on the road to Baler, Mrs. Quezon was killed in an ambush by elements of the Hukbalahap insurgent movement. Her daughter Maria Aurora, son-in-law Felipe Buencamino III and Mayor Ponciano Bernardo of Quezon City were also slain.

Aurora Boulevard was named after her in 1951 and in the same year, Aurora sub-province, comprising Baler and surrounding areas was established.

In 1978, Aurora became a separate province. The Concerned Women of the Philippines has named the Aurora Aragon Quezon Peace Awards after Mrs. Quezon to remind people that in a culture of violence the innocent are often the first to suffer.

All the relatives, friends, associates and admirers of Aurora Aragon Quezon are invited to come and attend the Mass in Sto. Domingo at 10 a.m.