Aquino to pay last respects to Reyes Friday afternoon

Setting aside disagreements of the past, President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is set to pay his last respects Friday to former military chief and defense secretary Angelo Reyes, whose remains are now at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. “Yes he [President Aquino] is going," presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a text message to GMA News Online. It was not yet clear what time the President will arrive at Camp Aguinaldo where Reyes' remains will stay until Sunday's burial. Last Thursday, President Aquino was still reluctant to go to the wake, saying he and Reyes were never close to each other. “Secretary Reyes and I were never close. There are instances that we are on opposite side of a particular argument. The first one is the petroleum oil and lubricant issue," Aquino said. President Aquino will proceed to Camp Aguinaldo right after his visit to Sulu Friday morning to distribute relief goods to the victims of flash floods in the municipalities of Jolo and Patikul and six barangays in the island province. The flash floods followed two days of storm surges last Feb. 1 and 2, which prompted Jolo Mayor Hussin Amin to declare the entire town a state of calamity on February 4. Accompanying the President in Sulu were Lacierda, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin, Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman and Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. — LBG, GMA News