Filipinos grieve death of Cardinal Jaime Sin

Philippine Cardinal Jaime Sin, a driving force behind popular revolts that removed two presidents, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 76.

Sin, once called "the divine commander in chief" by former President Fidel Ramos, had been in intensive care for two days with an infection related to a kidney problem.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he was deeply saddened by Sin's death and praised "Cardinal Sin's unfailing commitment to the spread of the Gospel and to the promotion of the dignity, common good and national unity of the Philippine people".

Thousands attended the first day of the wake for Cardinal Sin at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, a part of the old city.

People from all walks of life, government leaders, politicians, schoolchildren, priests and nuns mingled together in grief when Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales held a mass at the Cathedral.

Sin was hospitalised with a kidney ailment on Sunday and died of renal failure at 6.20am yesterday.

Sin was responsible for toppling two Filipino leaders, former dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, and former actor and President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and the ascension of two women to the presidency, former President Corazon Aquino, then a novice, in 1986, and President Gloria Arroyo, then vice-president in 2001.

In a statement from the Presidential Palace, Arroyo called Sin "a hero of EDSA I and II", in reference to the country's "people power" that brought about peaceful changes of leadership in 1986 and 2001. "His dream of a Philippines united in peace and justice beckons us to bring down the Tower of Babel and build a nation one and undivided," Arroyo said of Sin's legacy. "He was a blessed man who never failed to unite Filipinos during the most crucial battles against tyranny and evil.

"Many times I was guided by his wisdom and profound love for the poor and oppressed, for he lived in the fountain of the people like no other in his time," recalled Arroyo. "History will mark this day of sadness when a great liberator of the Filipino people and a champion of God passed away."

Many believe that Sin could have united the Catholic Church in support of Arroyo, but for the clergy's opposition to a controversial Bill on population control and plans to tax the Catholic Church.