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THE
break is complete—President Arroyo will not attend the
rites at the Edsa Shrine Monday to commemorate the first
People Power revolution in the Philippines and the world
to oust a hated regime; former President Cory Aquino,
who became President thereafter, will also not attend;
and the noon Mass celebrator also declined, and another
priest is expected to substitute for him.
Other
beneficiaries of the ousting of the dictator Marcos and
return of democracy to the Philippines—then-defense
secretary, now senator, Juan Ponce Enrile and
then-military chief, now former President Fidel
Ramos—could attend but it would no longer be the same,
observers said, as subsequent people uprisings were no
longer the same.
Retired
Roman Catholic bishop Francisco Claver, who with the
late Cardinal Sin and retired Archbishop Antonio
Nepomuceno of Bacolod were at the forefront in the
struggle against the Marcos dictatorship, has backed out
of saying the noon Mass to celebrate the 22nd
anniversary of the first people power revolution at the
Shrine of Our Lady of Peace on Edsa. Sources said the
bishop backed out apparently after learning that
President Arroyo might attend the event—a possibility
that turned out to be false.
Asked to
comment, Claver, reached by telephone, declined to
confirm the report.
Presidential Security Group (PSG) commander Brig. Gen.
Romeo Prestoza confirmed later on Sunday that the
President is not scheduled to attend the flag-raising
ceremony at the People Power Monument—the first event of
the daylong celebration—and said that the PSG was only
advised of two other presidential engagements in
Caloocan City and Cavite for Monday.
The
President will attend the grand launch of the Ahon Pinoy
Program (APP) at the Silanganan Elementary School in
Bagong Silang, Caloocan and later, a peace rally at the
Capitol Grounds in Trece Martires, Cavite.
A source
also said former President Corazon Aquino has chosen to
attend a Mass at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help in
Baclaran at 3 p.m. instead, together with Senate star
witness Rodolfo Noel “Jun” Lozada Jr.
It is
the first time that Mrs. Aquino, who was installed in
office via the first people power in 1986, is not
attending Mass at the Edsa Shrine on the event’s
anniversary.
President Arroyo also has not attended anniversary
Masses since Cory Aquino advised her to resign at the
height of the “Hello Garci” scandal in 2005.
While
the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP)
has yet to take an official stand on demands for Mrs.
Arroyo to resign, some members of the clergy, including
some bishops, have already begun to openly call for her
ouster; while a few others called for moderation and
some even supported her.
Balanga
Bishop Socrates Villegas, a key figure during Edsa 1,
said corruption has placed the “heaviest cross” on the
government. “The President must change or be changed;
so with the senators and congressmen. Each one must be
the reformed Filipino that we want our public officials
to become,” he said in a statement Sunday.
It was
the first time for Villegas, who served as assistant to
the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin—a huge
influence in the first People Power revolution and the
controversial Edsa 2—to express his views on the
current political turmoil hounding the Arroyo
administration.
The
Bataan prelate also observed that a “culture of
indifference” has been the “worst among the scourges”
affecting Filipinos since their lives did not improve
even after two people power revolutions.
“Our
people have grown tired of rallies to change public
officials because the changes have simply been from one
corrupt official to another. Those ‘revolutions’ did not
improve our lives, did they? They were just like shots
of opium that gave us a temporary high and nothing
more,” he added.
On
February 29 an interfaith prayer rally will be held on
Ayala Avenue in Makati City to pray for the nation.
At
Sunday’s Mass held at the
Adamson University,
meanwhile, Lozada called on Filipinos to keep the spirit
of Edsa. “We must be able to reject evil in our hearts.
If we do, then we can start rejecting evil in our minds,
then we can reject evil in our speeches, then in our
action. From what I observe, Edsa is no longer confined
in one place but is in each and everyone’s heart.”
The APP,
which President Arroyo will grace, is a
poverty-reduction strategy that provides financial
assistance in the form of cash cards to very poor
households to build human capital through improved
health, nutrition and education.
The only
time the President skipped the February 25 flag-raising
ceremony was in 2006, after an alleged coup plot against
Mrs. Arroyo was uncovered, prompting the declaration of
a national state of emergency. |
