HEAVEN TO BENEFIT FROM COMEDY KING DOLPHY JOKES

BY DARIO SARVIDA

Eric Quizon, Dolphy’s son, said comedy would live even after the death of the King of Comedy.
He lived a full life. He’s at rest. He’s at peace. He knew as he was going how much the country loved him. He knew how everyone was praying for him. And if he could, he would have stayed so just he could thank you personally. But where his spirit was strong, his body had so weakened. He had to go, Eric said hours after Dolphy died of cardiac arrest on July 10.
“Heaven is a happier place with him there. And for us he’s left behind, comedy’s dead, but long live comedy,” said Eric.
President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III led the nation in mourning for the comedy king, who passed away after a long bout with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Aquino extended his condolences and acknowledged that Dolphy was the embodiment of hope amid trials.
Last June, Malacanang was urged by Vice President Jejomar Binay, among other groups, to name Dolphy a “National Artist” but the comedy king did not live to see the day.
The National Artist Award is the “highest national recognition given to Filipino individuals who have made significant contributions to the development of Philippine arts,” according to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Apart from the prestige and a medal, a National Artist is entitled to material and physical benefits that includes a monthly pension, hospitalization benefits, and arrangements and expenses for a state funeral. For post-humous awardees, legal heirs are entitled to P75,000.
Should Dolphy be officially nominated, his candidacy will still have to undergo several deliberations by the Commissioners of the NCCA and the Board of Trustees of the CCP.
Aquino has issued Proclamation 433 declaring July 13, 2012 a National Day of Remembrance in honor of Dolphy.
In the proclamation, Aquino cited Dolphy as a man who will live on in Philippine cultural history and in the hearts of his countrymen.
The President in his proclamation said that “every milestone that Dolphy marked in a career that spanned decades, raised the standards of the entertainment industry, and strengthened our cultural identity, giving innumerable aspirants an example to look up to.”