It's Isabela's turn to fete honor guards

Philippine Daily Inquirer,Thursday, 20 August 2009

By: Villamor Visaya Jr

lLAGAN, ISABEIA-TWO OF
the four honor guards who stood
by the casket of former President
Corazon Aquino during her
nine-hour funeral procession on
Aug. 5 returned to their native
Isabela on Monday to the praise
of local officials and their
province mates.
In a program at the provincial
capitol here, local officials led
by Gov. Maria Gracia Cielo
Padaca gave P02 Danilo Malab
Jr. and Pfc Antonio Cadiente
P20,OOO each, plaques of recognition,
copies of resolutions of commendation from the
provincial board and various tokens.
"For their extraordinary
feat ... these two Isabela residents
are worthy of the
awards and cash incentives,"
Padaca said.
Malab is a native of Echague
town while Cadiente hails from
Aurora town.
Residents who witnessed
the program here on Monday
gathered around Malab and
Cadiente to shake their hands
and have their photographs taken with them. Local students
serenaded them with
folk songs.
The honor guards also signed
the Isabela government's condolence
book for the Aquino
family.
Malab, Cadiente and their
relatives later shared lunch
with Padaca and other Isabela
officiaIs.
"We are overwhelmed by
these awards and assistance.
We are very lucky," Malab
said.
Malab said he could not explain how he and the three other
honor guards managed to
stay motionless for almost nine
hours despite suffering from leg
cramps and having no toilet
breaks, food and water.
He and Cadiente, however,
said seeing the huge number of
people who gathered along the
more than 22-km funeral procession
route to pay their last
respects to Aquino helped take
away the exhaustion and discomfort
they felt that day.