Thousands of Negrenses lined the streets from Talisay to Sagay in Negros Occidental yesterday morning to bid goodbye to Gov. Joseph Marañon on the final 82.9 kilometer journey of his remains to his hometown.

The crowds waved flaglets and carried streamers expressing their love for Marañon and thanking him for having served them well, Gov. Isidro Zayco said.

The remains of Marañon, 73, who passed away Thursday evening, now lie in state at the St. Joseph the Worker Church in Sagay City. He will be laid to rest at his family’s cemetery in Barangay Rizal, Sagay City, after a 9 a.m. mass today, two days before his 74th birthday.

On Saturday morning, Bacolod Bishop Vicente Navarra, who led a concelebrated mass for Marañon at the Provincial Capitol in Bacolod City, said with the governor’s death, “We have lost a great civic leader who has proven his love and devotion to duty in order to guide and to serve us, his people, to the best of his ability.”

What most of us admired in him is that he really tried his best and that is what matters most before God, the bishop said.

The mere fact that the governor wanted to be buried in three days and did not want any necrological services to be held showed his clear desire to simply be in peace in putting his mortal remains to rest, Navarra said.

“I am not sure if Joseph was a Carmelite tertiary but I am sure his wife, Aida, is one, and being a devoted family man and husband surely his wife must have influenced the Carmelite spirituality that he displayed  and the belief in what St. Therese of Avila said, ‘only God suffices’,” the bishop said.

After the concelebrated mass, the governor’s wife, Aida Marañon, thanked Zayco, the Negros Occidental officials down to the barangay level, and the Capitol employees for the support they gave her husband.

She said with the death of the governor, it is as if part of her life had been taken away. “I put his towel on me just to pretend that his arms are around me and he is present,” she said.

Her husband was a simple man, a loving husband, a good provider, generous, decisive when he made decisions, forgiving, treated everyone equally, was hardworking and loved the poor, she said.

She said her husband’s legacy as governor includes the hospitals he had built, the renovation of the Mambukal Resort,  food programs he started, educational scholarships and environment protection.

“Joseph would have wanted to continue working for the province but time ran out on him,” she said.

Mrs. Marañon said she hopes the provincial government, under Zayco and Vice Governor Emilio Yulo III, finishes the projects her husband started.

Zayco and Yulo presented the Marañon family with a resolution expressing the condolences of the members of the Negros Occidental Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Marañon “was able to unite the leaders and the people of Negros Occidental creating an atmosphere of harmony and peace, with all Negrenses working together for the common good regardless of political color and social standing,” the resolution said.

Another mass on Saturday evening at the Capitol was celebrated by Msgr. Guillermo Gaston.  

While Marañon’s remains lay in state at the provincial Capitol in Bacolod City Saturday and part of Sunday morning among those who came to pay their last respects were Senators Edgardo Angara and Mar Roxas, officials of  Negros Occidental,  business tycoon Eduardo Cojuangco, Sugar Regulatory Administrator Rafael Coscolluela and Rep. George Arnaiz of Negros Oriental.

Angara said Marañon “was not only a very good leader but a very good man.”

The senator said he came to know Marañon when he was still mayor of Sagay and since then they have become friends “so when I learned that he died, I decided to come here”.

Marañon was a good governor, he was a jolly person who tried his best to be able to deliver what his voters expected of him, Cojuangco said.

Rep. George Arnaiz, who worked closely with Marañon when he was governor of Negros Oriental, said “he was a soft spoken, simple man with big dreams.”

“He was a man who cared for his people, was a really good friend  and  said what he meant and meant what he said,” Arnaiz said.*CPG

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