Well-wishers wear yellow for Cory
by Cecille Lardizabal, ABS-CBN News | 07/05/2009 2:13 AM
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Yellow was the color of the day, the fourth day of the novena for former President Cory Aquino at the Greenbelt Chapel in Makati City.
Mrs. Aquino's spokesperson Deedee Siytangco said on Saturday that yellow, the color of the people power revolt against the Marcos regime, will be the theme until they finish the novena on Thursday.
The mass on Saturday became the venue for many of her Cabinet secretaries to get together including former Trade and Industry Secretary Jose Pardo, former Central Bank Governor Jose Cuisia, former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Cayetano Paderanga, and former protocol chief Miguel Perez-Rubio.
Others who joined the mass were former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Fulgencio Factoran, former presidential legal counsel and retired Justice Adolfo Azcuna, former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao, and former Public Works and Highways Secretary Jose ‘Ping’ de Jesus, who read the novena on Saturday.
“All her thoughts and all her actions were for the good of the country,” said de Jesus.
The Makati Medical Center remains mum on the real condition of the former president.
Her spokesperson Deedee Siytangco said the latest information she got was that Mrs. Aquino was still battling her disease.
"She’s a very strong fighter,” she said, echoing a statement from Mrs. Aquino's daughter, Kris.
Siytangco said the Greenbelt Chapel is where Mrs. Aquino's wishes and prayers are granted whenever she recites her novena for nine days .
Now, Mrs. Aquino's friends are asking for a miracle.
“We hope our prayers can help you carry the heavy load you’re carrying these days,” said former Senator Franklin Drilon, who served as Aquino’s labor secretary and also justice secretary.
"We hope she recovers soon," said Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Aquino’s anointed candidate in the 1998 presidential elections.
Lito Banayo, postmaster-general under the Aquino government, said Mrs. Aquino “has given the country so much democratic space which we enjoy.”
Sisters from St. Scholastica and ordinary church-goers again joined in praying for the speedy recovery of Mrs. Aquino.
Aquino, a global icon of democracy, is fighting for her life due to colon cancer.
Critical week
On July 1, reports surfaced that Mrs. Aquino was in serious condition at the Makati Medical Center.
Her friends and supporters then began a novena mass at the Greenbelt Chapel.
The same day, her son, Sen. Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino released a statement saying his mother had to be confined due to a fluid buildup in her stomach that has made it difficult for her to eat.
On the second day of the novena, former President Joseph Estrada and family, former House Speaker Jose de Venecia, and some of Aquino's former Cabinet officials attended the novena mass.
Since then, support and prayers have continued to pour in nationwide and from Filipinos abroad.
Some of their messages and fervent hope for Mrs. Aquino's recovery were posted in her website.
Her former political foes, such as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senator Gregorio Honasan, likewise prayed for her recovery.
“I would pray for her and hope that the Lord will embrace her, if it should come to that. And if there’s any way for a miracle to happen, I wish that it would happen,” Enrile, one of two opposition senators during the Aquino presidency, said.
Honasan, who staged at least three failed coup attempts against the Aquino government, said he joins his colleague in the upper chamber, Noynoy, in asking for prayers for Aquino.
On Friday, July 3, good news greeted the nation, as Aquino's grandson said the former President was generally okay and was even able to hear first Friday mass inside her hospital room.
Even in her ordeal, Mrs. Aquino remains an icon of democracy and a symbol for love of country. – with a report from Jekki Pascual, ABS-CBN News Channel
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