Early Tuesday morning of June 21, I was shocked to hear the news that  Jaime Cardinal Sin was dead. Suffering from multiple organ failure, the former Archbishop of Manila died at Cardinal Santos, the same hospital where my best friend Lyra works as a PT.

Last Friday, my officemate Roger invited me to go to Manila Cathedral where Cardinal Sin’s body was located for public viewing. We planned to go after work and we were supposed to meet Roger’s college friend there. We left at around 8:30 P.M. from Ortigas and arrived at Quiapo about an hour later.

Quiapo Church was decorated with banderitas (colorful banners) as part of the celebration of St. John the Baptist’s feastday. We couldn’t help ourselves from taking photos of the centuries-old church.

Where’s Jocie

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We then took a ride to Intramuros and got off in front of Manila Cathedral. I had expected to see a lot more people attending Cardinal Sin’s wake especially since he was a fairly controversial figure in his time.

For me (and probably most of us in our generation) thought only of Jaime Cardinal Sin whenever the term Cardinal ever comes up. And why wouldn’t we know him when he figured prominently in two EDSA Revolutions and was cited in the Reader’s Digest as having one of the most ironic names in terms of chosen careers (Cardinal + Sin, get it?).

Yet above all these, Cardinal Sin represents the monolithic influence of the Catholic Church on the destiny of the Philippines.

My last encounter with Cardinal Sin. The first was during EDSA Dos.

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Jaime Cardinal Sin may have passed away but those with positions of responsibility in the Catholic Church will, either covertly or overtly, still have a certain amount of control over the course of history of this country.