“I love you lovey ko (my love). Until we meet again,” Zsa Zsa Padilla, Dolphy’s partner, said in her final good-bye to the late actor-comedian as dozens of white doves were released in the gray-clouded sky.
Dolphy was widely regarded as the nation’s “King of Comedy,” whose almost seven-decade-long career brought cheer to the Philippines during its most turbulent and darkest moments.
“He would not want to see you crying,” said Fr. Larry Faraon, who led the ceremony on Heritage Drive at 2 p.m. He asked those present to give the late comedian a rousing applause, and then led the shouting of “Hep hep! Hooray!” thrice and “Mabuhay si Dolphy!”
Dolphy died from complications arising from chronic obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and acute renal failure at the Makati Medical Center in Makati City last July 10. He was 83.
Also saying their final good-byes were family and close friends of the actor.
Dolphy’s remains were encased in a glass-topped golden metal casket that he himself bought in the 1970s at slightly over $40,000.
Many in the star-studded crowd openly wept as the casket shimmered in the afternoon sun while pall bearers carried it a short distance from inside a chapel to the grounds of a heavily secured exclusive cemetery in Manila.
Padilla, in a sleek black dress, and her daughters Zia and Nicole walked behind the gleaming casket. Actresses Maricel Soriano and Coney Reyes were linked arm to arm, tears streaming down their faces as they followed Padilla and her daughters.
Brothers Epy and Vandolph, wearing a pair of aviator shades and a fedora, were also spotted doing the kilometer-long walk together from the chapel to the comedian’s niche.
Soriano, who worked with Dolphy in the sitcom “John en Marsha” in the 1980s, sobbed uncontrollably throughout the hour-long burial rites.
She was comforted by actor-director Eric Quizon, who acted as the family spokesperson. Sisters Mariquita, Madonna and Sally were seated together.
At one point, family members were given white dancing lady orchids, which each of them placed inside the niche that measured 2.5 meters by 1.5 meters.
Faraon then asked Dolphy’s children to say their last goodbye. It was at this point when most of his children broke down and cried.
Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim snapped a salute in front of Dolphy’s casket, while Padilla tightly clung to it before it was shut and placed inside a black stoned crypt.
The ceremony was closed to Dolphy’s millions of grieving fans, many of whom traveled from different parts of the country to pay their respects to the comedian, officials said.
Private television , however, beamed the funeral live to homes Sunday afternoon.
When all the tributes were said and the rituals done, each of Dolphy’s grieving relatives and friends turned their frowns into smiles, just as the King of Comedy would have wanted to be sent off.
Radyo Inquirer reporter Jon Escosio said that soon after the casket was sealed in the tomb the grief of the mourners suddenly transformed into joy.
“I can see (indie star) Epy (Quizon) suddenly smiling, Zsa Zsa, too, and Eric (Quizon’s) face lit up in relief,” the reporter said.
Taguig police chief Senior Superintendent Tomas Apolinario, who oversaw the security arrangement there, estimated that about 200 people went at the periphery of the cemetery as early as Sunday morning.
The number was significantly lower, after reaching as high as 15,000 the other night, during the final public viewing of Dolphy’s remains, he told the Inquirer in an interview.
Apolinario described the overall situation as “peaceful with no untoward incident.”
“The mood was very solemn,” he said when asked how was necrological rites were at the chapel which began around 11:00 a.m.
Less than 100 people lined the gates of Heritage Memorial Park hoping to get a glimpse of Dolphy’s interment, which the family closed to the public.
Among them was Evelyn Bulahan, 37, who drove all the way from Imus, Cavite, her extended family in tow, to see off the Comedy king.
“The dog will take care of the house,” Bulahan said as her nieces and nephews took turns in taking a peek at the chapel driveway where Dolphy’s kin and friends gathered.
Others like Jackie Galela, who said she lived nearby the cemetery, still tried her luck even though the family already announced that the funeral would be limited to their kin. She stood at the park’s gate along Bayani Road, which was about 300 meters from where Dolphy was laid to rest.
Asked if cemetery officials told them whether they would be allowed to come close to the celebrity’s tomb, she said the guards at the gate haven’t told them anything yet.
Rose Gumban, who put up a stall at a sidewalk along Bayani Road, said she kept the prices of T-shirt memorabilia despite the funeral yesterday afternoon.
The shirts, which she designed, retailed for p120 each.
She said she had modest earnings during the four-day wake, enough to recoup her initial investment. She refused to elaborate on the details of her business.
On Sunday, Malacañang urged the nation to celebrate the life of Dolphy.
“We continue to condole with his loved ones and his friends,” deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte said on government radio.
Valte said that the Palace hopes the country will remember Dolphy with happy and not sad memories as what the comedy king had wished.
Dolphy was widely known for his colourful comedic roles, from a cross-dressing homosexual to a poor jack of all trades.
In the 1970s he played the poor husband to a rich wife, who poked fun at his loud-mouthed mother-in-law, giving comedic relief during Ferdinand Marcos’ brutal 20-year martial law regime that left thousands dead and missing.
It was a slapstick brand of comedy that steered clear of politics or criticism of Marcos.
President Benigno Aquino, who visited Dolphy’s wake last week, paid the highest tribute to the comedian, calling him a force that embodied the best of Filipino traits.
“Through his art, he widened our outlook, he gave us the power to find and cherish happiness in our daily lives,” Aquino had said.
