Out of my mind

It's 3:20pm on my watch and my kids and I just got home after standing in the rain two blocks away from our house at the corner of Osmena and Vito Cruz Streets to pay our respects for President Cory Aquino.   We left the house when it was shown on television that the funeral cortege was about to cross San Andres, which is probably 500 kms away from Vito Cruz.  It took more than 30 minutes for the procession to reach Vito Cruz.  It was raining hard when we got to the corner but miraculously, the rain stopped when the truck bearing President Cory's remains passed by.   We were able to get a glimpse of the casket aboard the truck because the throng of people who were there ahead of us folded their umbrellas.  It didn't feel like a funeral procession - more like a celebration of life as people chanted, howled, applauded, cheered. And then it was over.  When the truck carrying the casket and the red van used by the immediate family had passed, people started to disperse.  It was...

I woke up today to bad news.  Former President Cory Aquino had passed on.  My condolences to the Aquino and Cojuangco family and to the whole Filipino nation.