MANILA – The youngest daughter of the late former president Corazon "Cory" Aquino said on Sunday that differences with the Arroyo administration led them to refuse a state funeral for the former leader.

Television host Kris Aquino speaks on "The Buzz" about the last days of her mother, the late former president Corazon "Cory" Aquino, August 2, 2009. (ABS-CBN/The Buzz screengrab)

"Malacañang doesn't have to say [na] bigyan ng honor ang Mom ko, dahil iyong honor nanggagaling sa bayan natin."

This was what Kris Aquino-Yap, youngest daughter of the late former president Corazon "Cory" Aquino said when she explained their family's decision not to have a state funeral for their mother despite an offer from Malacañang.

Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, Kris's brother, earlier said they decided to have a private funeral for their mom, who died of cardiorespiratory arrest as a complication of her colorectal cancer, early morning Saturday.

"I hope sana hindi ito mabigyan ng kulay pulitika," Kris clarified in an interview with Boy Abunda on the showbiz talk show The Buzz on Sunday.

"I just want to explain some things about our decisions as a family," she said.

"May mga lumapit po [galing Malacañang]," Kris recounted, saying the person who approached them about the state funeral offer was someone "quite close to Mom." She, however, decided not to name the person.

"Noy (Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, Cory's only son) was there, but I said, 'ako magsasalita para hindi niyo sabihin na namumulitika kami, na pulitika ang dahilan," Kris said.

"Nasabihan kasi [kami] na, 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' daw kasi ang sitwasyon nila: Kung hindi mag-offer, parang masama; kung mag-offer at tumanggi kami, masama pa rin.

"I'm sorry pero at that moment I said 'hindi ko problema ang problema niyo. Ang problema ko lang ang Mom,'" she said.

"I said, 'I'm speaking on behalf of everybody. Malacañang doesn't have to say [na] bigyan ng honor ang Mom ko, dahil iyong honor nanggagaling sa bayan natin,'" Kris said.

"It's not that we did not allow. We said: ‘don't offer na lang, para walang gulo.’ Ayaw namin ng gulo," she later added.

Security 'recall'

During that conversation with the unnamed official, Kris said she also brought up an incident back in July when she thought the government was recallling her mother's security detail.

The security detail is provided by the Presidential Security Group (PSG) to former presidents. Cory's security details, Kris said, were named Mel and Chris.

"When I brought it up, nasabi ko - emotional ako noong time na 'yon, [sinabi ko] gusto niyo na bigyan ang mom ngayon [ng honors] eh... ngayon na may sakit [siya] iyong due her as [fomer] president gusto niyo bawiin?" Kris recalled.

She explained that she was emotional at that time, and it was what she felt 'as a daughter.'

"I'm trying [to explain] so that Noy won't have to speak on this," saying she is not running for any political office and will not run in the near future, to remove any taint of politics.

"It really hurt me (the alleged recall of the security detail). It hurt me because I understand politics, and I understand na kapag may impluwensiya ka, pahihirapan mo 'yong kalaban mo... pero 'wag naman 'yong mga maliliit. 'Wag naman 'yong 2 na talagang nagmahal sa mom," she said, referring to the 2 security details assigned to the former president.

She then said that the matter has been explained to her already - the guards were not being recalled, but were rather being called for "accounting" - and that the matter is already resolved.

"Gusto ko lang ibahagi, on a personal basis, why we made the decisions we made," she said.

Aquino was once an ally of Arroyo and was instrumental in the incumbent president’s installation to power in 2001 where Aquino joined calls for the ouster of former president Joseph Estrada.

In response however to President Arroyo’s apology in 2005 for the “Hello Garci” scandal, the release of wiretapped conversations allegedly between President Arroyo and then Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano purportedly about padding in the 2004 presidential elections count, Cory held a press conference asking President Arroyo to make “the supreme sacrifice” by resigning from office.

She would then lead prayers in different churches in Metro Manila to reiterate this call for President Arroyo to resign.

The late former president also threw her support for Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada, the “secret witness” who emerged early morning of February 7 in 2008 implicating former Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos and First Gentleman Jose Miguel "Mike" Arroyo in the anomalous National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corporation. Kris Danielle Suarez, abs-cbnNEWS.com

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