The Dumaguete Cathedral overflowed with mourners Tuesday for the funeral of Negros Oriental Gov. Agustin Perdices.
Wearing black arm bands, employees of the city of Dumaguete and the province of Negros Oriental, as well as friends and family, mostly filled the Cathedral while hundreds more stood outside.
S/Supt. Rey Lyndon Lawas, police provincial commander for Negros Oriental, said the crowd, numbering close to 8000, was the biggest number of people he had seen at a funeral in Dumaguete City.
Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, who was Bishop of the Diocese of Dumaguete for many years, traveled to Dumaguete to officiate Perdices’ funeral, along with Dumaguete Bishop John Du, and a host of other priests.
Lagdameo heaped praises on Perdices who, he said, had left a number of legacies for his predecessors to emulate.
“The late Governor Perdices left a legacy of genuine public service without any corruption in his whole career as a politician.
He said that Perdices, like his best friend, the late Gov. Emilio Macias II, were like inseparable twins who had been temporarily separated, but are now rejoined in heaven.
The Archbishop said the two Governors of the Province, the late Governor Macias and Governor Perdices, were both good personal friends, playmates, and good Christians. Both were honest and sincere in government service.
Macias died June 13 from liver cancer, while Perdices died Jan. 5 from stomach cancer. Both were 76 years old.
Lagdameo said Perdices was an honest and incorruptible public official, and a great ally of the church against all types of gambling and the RH Bill.
From the Cathedral, the hearse bearing Perdices’ body was followed by a walking procession of mourners to the Dumaguete Memorial Park, passing through his ancestral home along the Rizal Blvd. and his San Jose St. home, where a shower of yellow confetti greeted his remains.
Hundreds more lined up the streets to await the funeral procession, throwing flowers along the way and releasing balloons in a gesture of affection.
Sr. Supt. Lawas led the funeral march, accompanied by squads of uniformed policemen, the first time for a deceased chief executive of the Province to get full honors. “We cannot compare [our preparations] with the funeral of the late Governor Macias because his remains had been cremated,” Lawas said.
The police, he said, coordinated closely with the 302nd Brigade in giving honors to the late Governor, as Army troops also accorded Perdices the 21-gun salute just before the casket was lowered atop the tomb of the late Governor’s wife, Ma. Eugenia Araneta-Perdices.
After the funeral, Agustin Miguel “Tincho” Perdices, the Governor’s only son, told reporters that their family was very happy with how their father lived his life. He said the family has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of sympathy for their father, which tells them that their father meant something to many.