Santuario de San Antonio, Forbes Park, Makati City
11 April 2013

In a eulogy delivered at the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, President Benigno S. Aquino III reminisced how the columnist William “Billy” Esposo had incessantly urged him to run for the 2010 presidential election soon after the passing of his mother, former President Corazon C. Aquino.

“The night before the funeral of Mom, Billy texted me, saying that he had heard me speak. He said that it had reminded him of how the country felt after Dad died: that all hope was gone, after having pinned so much hope in Dad, only for him to be killed. Then Mom spoke, at the Requiem Mass for Dad, and suddenly a despairing country believed again that it could win its freedom back… Now he proposed that I should take up the fight,” he said.

 “Some say, this is my fate. What I know is that Billy’s idea brought us to where we are, now: his idea engendered the optimism that has proven contagious in our country,” he added.

President Aquino posthumously conferred the Order of Lakandula, with the Rank of Grand Officer on Billy Esposo, bearing the citation: “for his contribution to the restoration of democracy by organizing a foreign media bureau to confront the misinformation and the propaganda of the dictatorship thus committing, educating and galvanizing the Filipino people to reclaim their democracy, and for his advocacy of nationalism, democracy and good governance as opinion writer and active citizen and recognition for a life lived selflessly for others in giving his utmost to his fellow citizens regardless of his personal circumstance and illness.” The award was received by his widow, Mrs. Amelia “Mey” Esposo.

William “Billy” Esposo, a columnist for the Philippine Star who wrote “As I Wreck this Chair,” passed away at age 64 from complications brought about by a chronic kidney disease at 12:08 a.m. on 7 April 2013. His remains was laid to rest at the Manila Memorial Park in Dasmariñas, Cavite.

*  *  *