PNoy, sisters visit parents' tombs

President Benigno Aquino III and his sisters went to the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City on Monday afternoon to pay respects to their parents a day before Filipinos troop to cemeteries to do the same for their dead relatives. President Aquino and his sisters arrived past 2 in the afternoon and left an hour later. A Mass was celebrated for former President Corazon Aquino and her husband, slain Senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., after which the Aquino siblings, all of them devout Catholics, prayed the rosary. Aquino’s sisters — Ballsy, Viel and Pinky — were accompanied by their husbands and children. Television host Kris Aquino was also present with her sons Joshua and Baby James.

The public and the media were discouraged to go near the tombs, which were decorated with yellow and white flowers, to give the Aquino siblings private time with their parents. Malacañang earlier said the Aquino siblings would visit their parents’ tombs a day before majority of Filipinos crowd the cemeteries to have a “peaceful and quiet" observance of the All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. Ninoy was assassinated on August 21, 1983 at the then-Manila International Airport upon his return to the country from the United States, where he was on self-exile. The airport was later named after him. Cory, on the other hand, succumbed to cancer on Aug. 1, 2009. - Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News