Crowd at Cory funeral awes foreigners

The sight of tens of thousands of Filipinos lining up on the rain-drenched and flooded streets of Metro Manila just to have a last glimpse of former President Corazon Aquino was an amazing image for many foreigners. Canadian citizens who went to the Rajah Sulayman Park along Roxas Boulevard in Manila on Wednesday to join the crowd patiently waiting for Mrs. Aquino's cortege said it was a sight they had never seen back home. Twenty-three-year-old Kory Chenard told GMANews.TV that what he witnessed was something he would probably never see in Canada. His friend, Leon Underwood, 25, said the spectacle got him interested in learning more about Mrs. Aquino and the Philippines. “It sure made me want to know of the history of this," Underwood said. The tourists said they were just strolling in the area when they noticed the throngs of people streaming toward Roxas Boulevard. Travel guide in hand, the two buddies went to find out what was going on. They had come to the Philippines as it was the only country they have not yet visited in Southeast Asia. They plan to stay in the Philippines for three weeks. Filipino-Japanese Fernan Hayashi, a 39-year old club manager in Nagoya, said he could never expect something like this in Japan. Along with wife Imelda, Hayashi arrived two weeks ago to spend his summer holiday in the Philippines. They waited at the Manila Memorial Park since 11 a.m. with some relatives just to witness the former president's burial. Hayashi recalled that when much-revered Emperor Hirohito died in 1989, many Japanese also lined up on the streets to pay their last respects to the monarch, but the crowd was smaller compared to the mass of Filipinos who waited patiently in the rain for Mrs. Aquino's cortege to pass by. “We were touched by what we saw on TV. She was not corrupt and she did not abuse the presidency," Hayashi said. His wife Imelda noted that during the Emperor's funeral procession, Tokyo remained traffic-free. Police on Thursday said about 175,000 people viewed the almost eight-hour funeral procession of Mrs. Aquino. - GMANews.TV