MANILA - President Arroyo will pay her last respects to former President Corazon “Cory” Aquino who succumbed to colon cancer early Saturday.

“Before they left for New York, her officials confirmed to reporters that President Arroyo will definitely, personally pay her last respects to President Aquino. But no other details were made available to us because they said arrangements are still being made at the moment,“ reported Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau chief.

According to Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Mrs. Arroyo will arrive in Manila on Wednesday, the scheduled internment of the late president.

“Sec. Ermita expressed with certainty that he's almost sure that nothing untoward will happen, that the president will not be treated badly there, and they all expressed admiration for the Aquino family also, and don’t expect anything untoward once the president arrives at the wake,“ Reyes reported on ABS-CBN News.

Some local news reports have quoted Aquino’s son, Senator Benigno “Noynoy“ Aquino that Mrs. Arroyo would not be welcomed. However, Sen. Aquino was also quoted that they would treat Mrs. Arroyo with civility and be polite to her if she attends their mother’s wake.

“As for Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, he said they're quite certain that even if Sen. Noynoy Aquino earlier expressed that the president won’t be welcomed at the wake, he's quite certain that things would go smoothly, that the opposition or the critics of President Arroyo will not go against the tradition of Filipinos in respecting and honoring our dead, especially the beloved, former President Cory,“ Reyes said.

It was not clear though if Mrs. Arroyo will proceed to the Manila Cathedral once her plane lands at 5 a.m., or if she will attend the burial at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque.

“I asked an official of the delegation if the president will proceed to the Manila Cathedral from the airport, and right now, they are still not sure about that because they want to know, of course, the exact time of their arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport,“ Reyes told ANC’s Dateline Philippines.

Mrs. Arroyo is set to proceed to the San Francisco International Airport after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of agreement on technology sharing with the Science and Technology Advisory Council in Palo Alto.
 
“She's taking a commercial flight to Manila and is expected to arrive around 5 in the morning of Wednesday,“Reyes said.

Mrs. Arroyo was in Washington DC when Aquino passed away last Saturday. She immediately declared a 10-day period of national mourning from August 1 to 10. Mrs. Arroyo also declared August 5, the day of Aquino’s burial, as a special non-working holiday, to give the Filipino people the chance to honor the late president.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said the president is “very sincere about her condolences”.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Arroyo also ordered an investigation, following the revelation of Aquino’s youngest daughter, Kris, that the government pulled out the security detail of her mother while she was still alive and battling colon cancer.

“There's no intention to pull out the security detail, and it was really not a pullout as what they said,“Reyes said.

Reyes quoted Ermita as having said that the Police Security Protection Group under the Philippine National Police was responsible for that unfortunate mishap.

“Apparently, the new commander of that group ordered that all security for VIPs, except the once securing President Arroyo, report back to Camp Crame, and that it was just a procedural matter, and they were really never terminated, and they were never really recalled from their duties,“Reyes said.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who was with the First Couple in the US, said the news about the pullout has “taken us by a complete surprise”.

“We would like to apologize to the Aquino family for whatever anguish or concern it has brought them. It was never intentional on our part,” Remonde said, adding that the president already ordered an investigation into the incident.

“In fact we have asked the Armed Forces of the Philippines for an explanation over what happened and the initial one was that it was just a bureaucratic slip up,” he said. -- With Ging Reyes, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau Chief, Balitang America, and Dateline Philippines