Some of them travelled all the way from Bohol while many came from all over Metro Manila and neighboring provinces just to bid their popular cousin goodbye.
They were the descendants of the Glorias and the Reyeses of Tubigon and other towns of Bohol Province who were kin to comedian Amay Bisaya, Roberto Gloria Reyes in real life.
Amay died of a heart attack days before the midterm elections in the Philippines.
These Glorias and Reyeses wouldn't want to let their Amay go to the great beyond without them seeing him for the last time.
Some of them might have just seen Bisaya onscreen and they would want to pay their final respects before him even in his last journey.
Others might have been navigating personally with him during his lifetime but a last look must be more memorable.
That was how many of the Glorias and the Reyeses remembered their popular kin.
One of them even said that when Amay ran for governor of Bohol, she voted for him.
As a friend of Bisaya, I could vouch that he was a good person.
His intention of helping others was genuinely motivated.
As a matter of fact, when he was an active officer of the Katipunan ng mga Artista ng Pelikulang Pilipino at Telebisyon (KAPPT) or simply, Actors Guild of the Philippines, Amay wanted to promote the labor conditions of the workers.
Because as a person who came from a poor family in Bohol, Bisaya knew hard life, hunger and unemployment.
His strategy, though, was to play sidekick or chum--in reel and real life--to the named, big movie and television stars like Fernando Poe, Jr. or Ramon "Bong" Revilla, Jr., among others, instead of asserting his own leadership of the working classes.
During his tenure as Vice-President of KAPPT to its President, Imelda Papin, he was an active campaigner of the regularization of the working hours of film and TV toilers.
But in the course of the movement for better working conditions in the local movie and television industries, Amay suffered a stroke and became sickly that led to his death.
If he was alive today, he would have campaigned for the anointed candidates of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. in the May 12, 2025 elections.
Even in his sickbed, Bisaya was rooting for PBBM candidates.
Yes, Amay was a true-blue Marcos loyalist as his patron, Imelda Papin.
Imelda was at Amay's beck and call during his illness and even in his demise.
Papin took care of all the memorial arrangements for the remains of her subordinate.
In his five-day wake, it was Mel who planned, organized, implemented or even troubleshot the post-mortem situations of the comic.
It's good Papin is one of the Directors of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) that she could easily lend a hand to medical patients such as Amay.
Aside from his Boholano kin, many showbiz people also came to pay their last respects to Amay like Rhene Imperial, Baby Shake Rico, Lynn Madrigal, Gerry Roman, Tom Olivar, Aimee Torres, Rez Cortez, Premiere Water Plus Productions' grand lady Marynette Gamboa, Efren Reyes, Jr. Ern Antonio, Jek Jumawan, Francis "Jun" Posadas, Aileen Arcilla Papin, Jose "Kaka" Balagtas, Venus Lopez, John Nite, Jess Sanchez, Leo Lazaro, Garry Cruz, among many others.
Amay's remains were cremated.
He was 67.
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