A million fans, colleagues and politicians joined a grand funeral march for action star Fernando Poe Jr yesterday.
He was buried at Manila's cemetery before noon.
Early yesterday about 2,500 soldiers and 1,500 policemen closely monitored Poe's fans and followers who carried placards and pictures of the actor who died of a stroke last week.
They chanted, "FPJ, FPJ" (Poe's initials) at the start of the march from Santo Domingo Church in Quezon City to Manila's La Loma cemetery.
Several times the noise scared and distracted the horse which led Poe's flower-decked hearse.
The 20km-long funeral march lasted more than six hours as fans continued joining the entourage on the way to the cemetery.
The funeral march resembled his presidential campaign in the May 10 elections, because it was composed of fans, film stars, stuntmen and politicians.
On screen for five decades, the actor was a fantastic hero or a soft-hearted toughie for the poor.
Earlier, during the service held in a small chapel of the Santo Domingo Church on Tuesday evening, former President Joseph Estrada said, "We will continue the fight [for the recounting of ballots] even if that means following you to the grave.
"The cheating deprived Ronnie [Poe's nickname] of his dream to serve the Filipino people when he ran for president last May," said Estrada.
The former president is under house arrest in suburban Tanay, for a $ 78 million (Dh 280 million) plunder case at the anti-graft court.
Sources said Poe decided to run for president even if it was against his nature, for Estrada's sake. At the funeral mass held at the main chapel of the Santo Domingo Church early yesterday, Father Sonny Ramirez said, "FPJ is now in heaven where the truth will be known [about his victory in the May 10 polls]."
The resentment among friends and relatives was mainly due to the officially projected image of Poe as a failed presidential candidate in May 10 polls.
His wife, Susan Roces, also said, "What pains me more are reports that authorities are preventing many of FPJ's supporters in the provinces from entering Metro Manila."
Recalling the 1998 presidential campaign when Estrada ran for the presidency, the former president said, "He [Poe] did not make a film at the time. We were sleepless and tired together. He never complained.
"When I won, he never visited me at the presidential palace. He never asked for anything in return, not even for a toothpick or a matchstick.
"Our only dream 50 years ago was to be good and famous actors. Little did we know that we would be famous," said Estrada.
Paying tribute, film director Joel Lamangan lashed out at those who belittled Poe's intellectual capability during the presidential campaign.
