Thank God I wasn’t the only one who went “What the hell?!” after reading a recently-shared article published on the Philippine Star in mid-2015 claiming a Jesuit priest is pushing for the canonization of the late former President Cory Aquino as a saint by the Catholic Church. A lot of people were actually using worse swear words than mine that I would rather not publish here, in reaction to this most ridiculous news to come out since back in 2009 when BS Aquino announced he was running for the Presidency.
The late former President Cory Aquino set many precedents for disrespect of democratic institutions.
Apparently, a certain Father Catalino Arevalo had been patiently waiting over the last six years to start the beatification process of Cory before being canonized. The rules set by the Catholic Church dictates that the process can only start six years after the person’s death. Cory died in 2009 and Arevalo, who proposed the idea back in 2015, may not be prepared to wait another minute to begin this outrageous project.
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This move to push Cory’s sainthood is nothing but pure vanity on the part of those who support it. Some Filipinos who are allied with the Aquinos just want the opportunity to tell the whole world that “Hey, we have another saint and it’s our third one!” As if having another saint is going to save the Philippines from being pulled down to the gutter by corrupt and incompetent public servants and the voters who put them there.
According to Joanne Rae M. Ramirez who authored that PhilStar article, it seems Arevalo’s only basis in claiming that Cory deserves to be a saint is that, Aquino, after a visit to Assisi at the end her presidential term, was “so struck by the life of St. Francis, who asked God for more sufferings”. He even described an incident when “Cory got down on her knees and prayed, ‘Lord, I don’t think I’ll ask for more sufferings. But if more sufferings come my way, I will not complain’.”
If all it takes to be a saint these days is for a person to go down on his or her knees and pray, then millions of Filipinos are qualified to be saints too. And, speaking of suffering, there are millions more who have gone through worse suffering than Cory. Those who eat pag-pag (food taken from the garbage bins of fast-food restaurants) everyday deserve to be nominated as saints more than her, if we were to apply the same criteria to them.
Furthermore, the farmers of Hacienda Luisita, for one, have been suffering in the hands of the Aquino-Conjuangco clan for decades but no one has nominated them for sainthood. The beatification process for some of the farmers who died while on strike during what is dubbed the Hacienda Luisita massacre can now begin. It has been more than six years too. In fact, it’s been more than a decade of hell since they died in the hands of military personnel ordered to protect the political family.
Yes, the victims have not received justice after all these years. Cory did not do anything for the victims’ suffering while she was alive. Even after the tragic event, there were farmer sympathizers including a priest, who were reportedly murdered just for supporting the cause:
On March 13, 2005, Father William Tadena, an Aglipayan priest who had mobilized his parish to regularly donate rice and groceries to the workers at the picket line before saying a weekly mass for them, was shot dead in his owner-type jeep on the provincial highway in La Paz, Tarlac while on his way to his next mass.
Let us all pray that the Vatican would conduct a thorough investigation of the life and times of Cory before they turn her into a saint. They will very likely find that she turned a blind eye to atrocities committed against helpless Filipinos who were simply fighting for their rights.
Truth be told, Cory was responsible for putting millions of Filipinos in a permanent state of misery. Her revolutionary government set a precedent that saw Filipinos habitually disrespect the country’s institutions over the decades that followed. She was the first to throw the rulebook out of the window. Succeeding bozos had a template for grabbing power “Cory style”. She even supported the ouster of former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada so her then ally, former President Gloria Arroyo, could take over the Presidency. She later regretted helping oust Erap and apologized for ousting him. She said she made a mistake. This was after Cory had a falling out with her erstwhile ally, Arroyo. Speculation is rife that Cory got angry with Gloria for ordering the investigation of the farmers’ complaints:
Under pressure from public outrage over the November 2004 massacre, the Arroyo administration, through the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), formed Task Force Stock Distribution on November 25, 2004 to study the causes of the workers’ strike. The Task Force was later renamed Task Force Luisita. In March 2005, teams were sent by the DAR to Luisita’s 10 barangays to investigate the SDO.
To this day, justice continues to elude the victims of the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.
It’s no surprise that Cory’s only son BS Aquino made it his mission to persecute two people who were responsible for the break-up of their precious Hacienda Luisita. As soon as he stepped into power, BS Aquino ordered the arrest of Arroyo using trumped-up charges and then he proceeded to bully Congress into initiating the ouster of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, once again using trumped-up charges. Arroyo is still under hospital arrest even after most of the charges had been dropped and even when it was found that evidence presented is insufficient to convict her in the last remaining case against her. And a Chief Justice who blatantly shows her bias towards some politicians allied with the Aquinos has replaced Corona.
It seems vindictiveness runs in the Aquino family. Cory and her son did not even attempt to unite Filipinos while they were in power. They just kept carrying on and on about the “evils” of the Marcoses while allowing these very same “evils” to continue even when the Marcoses were already gone.
Cory didn’t accomplish anything significant. The fact that there were so many coup d’etats during her term says a lot about her inability to unite and inspire Filipinos to prioritize the interests of the country over personal interests. She probably pissed off her former allies with her own greed for power and the incompetence she applied to her work. Even her very own former Vice President, the late Salvador H. Laurel had to write her a letter pleading that she come to her senses after she appeared to have lost sight of the very reason they had to remove Marcos. Here are excerpts taken from this letter:
“We promised our people morality and decency in government. What do we have instead? The very opposite. It is now openly admitted by many, including your former Solicitor-General and some of your own close relatives in Congress, that the stench of “accumulated garbage”—I’m quoting your own first cousin, Congressman Emigdio Tanjuatco, Jr. —rises to high heaven; that the past years of Marcos are now beginning to look no worse than your first two years in office. And the reported controversies and scandals involving your closest relatives have become the object of our people’s outrage.
“We promised to ‘break the back’ of the insurgency. But what is the record? From 16,500 NPA regular when Marcos fell, the communists now claim an armed strength of 25,200, of which 2,500 are in Metro Manila. They have infiltrated not only the trade unions, the schools, the churches and the media but your government, above all, and now ‘affect’ 20 percent of the country’s 42,000 barangays, according to official statistics.
“In the fight against the insurgency, the nation, particularly our Armed Forces, expected you to provide the leadership, and to give decisive, clear and consistent orders. But you have chosen instead to behave like an innocent bystander, as though the insurgency were the sole concern of our soldiers, their widows and orphans.
How can Aquino supporters ignore this information about Cory from an insider? And now they want to turn her into a saint? Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
In life, things are not always what they seem.
I am not an absolute expert on sainthood but Godliness begins at home. How much of a saint can you be if your family is book-ended by a vindictive, short sighted, lazy, self serving son and a daughter very loose with her virtue who broadcasts her 5 year old’s sex questions to the TV network that is known to brainwash the simpleton masses with their gutter morality? I have faith in the vetting process of the Catholic Church. They will consider Corazon Aquino around the same time they will consider John Wayne Gacy.
After all these years you have got to hand it to the yellow mob to still be beholden to the Aquino name like the average cult member. Despite the abundance of information and the monumental blunders of the current president, all these cultists can say is that at least he’s not a Marcos (or an Arroyo).
lol Don’t you need two miracles to be canonized as a saint? What’s next? Stories about how she cured a leper or something?
The miracle would be Kris her youngest daughter will become a nun and also with Pnoy will become a priest which is so impossible to happen.
The most astonishing miracle she made was spending trillions of pesos for nothing. Isn’t that really astonishing?
Standards really are low in the Philippines.
Well, Fr Catalina Arevalo SJ, from what I know, is the spiritual adviser and confessor of Cory, so he might be looking at Cory from a totally different perspective. For sure, all are called to be saints, but Fr Arevalo must know that to push her in the roster of the canonized will take not just his point of view. Cory will pass through the grinder, and that is why it takes normally more than a century to get one in that roster allowing how history will judge the one being proposed for sainthood.
The moment the application is received in Vatican, the Curia will immediately assign a theologian or a guy expert in these things who will form a committee, whose only objective is to oppose the proposal at every turn. If the committee finds she has not been a model or a hero in spiritual warfare, then the application is immediately thrown in the garbage. Assuming it proceeds, and Arevalo dies, and nobody takes over to advance the cause, then the proposal dies a natural death.
There are three stages to canonization. 1st) the servant of God, 2nd) the venerable, and the 3rd) the saint. Two miracles are required each stage. It should convincingly be a miracle, as there will always be the opposing group who could always organize a panel of medical experts from around the world who will always try to shoot down the claim of miracle. These proposals are taken very seriously by Vatican and is no joke as it is very exhausting. And they will always take time, as one of the weapon of the experts is to have time on their side, so it will be delayed, delayed, and delayed. Arevalo must be very convinced if he still willing to go through all that, or is he just doing it for PR purposes? I guess we don’t know.
But, Ilda, you might have just thrown a monkey wrench at the effort of Fr Arevalo, hahaha. I can guarantee you the guys in Vatican don’t miss a thing. You will be surprised that your article will find its way to Vatican among the evidences and testimonies they will be collecting in the course of investigation.
Along that line, let me add my own opposition here, so that they could count on two of us as already opposing. The reason I oppose is because Cory comes across as a model of vindictness. There is nothing saintly about that.
In the last par, should read ..model of vindictiveness, not vindictness……
There is a reason why cause for sainthood cannot be submitted immediately. Imagine if that was possible right after her death, and all those public emotion in display? The cause might have advanced an inch. Now with people sans emotion, a better assessment could be made. I can already see Fr Arevalo’s effort going to nought after seeing all those comments in the FB page of GRP.
PNoy not only damaged the Philippines, he also dragged her mother to dirt, not sainthood.
OMG…Cory Aquino, a Saint? If I pray to her
for intercession…the evil spirit of Satan, may come…and the things evil coming to me; will be more. This is the “finest joke”, I have ever
heard. That stupid Priest, who recommended her sainthood, must be the JOKER OF THE YEAR!
That idiot Priest should be burned on stake, of subjected to Inquisition.
OR BETTER YET, MAKE HIM SLIDE ON A GIANT BLADE AND DROWN HIM ON A DRUM OF PHLEGM COLLECTED FROM TB PATIENTS
She managed one miracle. Her son is president.
it’s already two, the other is what pnoy said that hacienda luisita is a gift from god.
The third miracle is: her daughter, Kris Aquino, has several husbands, married many times, without going into the process of divorces.
Fourth miracle: Her daughter, Kris, is now the “Queen of all Media”, even thought her acting is poor and all she says is “Oh my god”
There is a process and several steps before any person is declared a saint, which is thoroughly investigated by the Church (Vatican). The last two steps are miracles attributed to the candidate’s intercession. One miracle required to be beatified and recognized as “Blessed” and a second miracle required to be canonized and declared a “Saint”.
Ilda, after reading your article, I find every reason for Cory to be declared a Saint. The first “miracle” is Cory’s ability to led people to believe, despite to the contrary, that she never “turned a blind eye to atrocities committed against helpless Filipinos who were simply fighting for their rights.” Furthermore, you wrote that “Cory didn’t accomplish anything significant” but which people continue to believe she was the best, hence the second “miracle”. And the “miracles” continues under her only son, of course, through the intercession of Mother Cory.
Since modern saints are not named after their baptismal name, I would propose the Cory be declared as “SANTA BANANA”. Peace.
Of course there are many more “miracles” that could be cited! ????
For the sins of Cory Aquino, that’s up to God. For her sainthood that’s up to the Catholic church. Being part of it,I say this is nothing but galongong!
Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
—
Hail Cory, Mother of retardation and immorality incarnate.
Pray for us suffering citizens of this yellow banana republic.
Now and at the hour of our miserable death under your Yellow cult.
Do I hear an Amen?
RAmen?
Sure, just say “Grace” for the meal – it’s the new cult on the block
Oi! Thats for The Flying Spaghetti Monster, you Heretic!!!
Haven’t you been reading?
The FSM song is the “Spaghetti Song” by the Sex Bomb dancers!
Oh Holy God! Reduced myself to tears as I laugh out the loudest! The act is absolutely ridiculous. Just reading the article and the comments filled my quota of jokes to laugh at for the rest of my life.
Adding another saint will just add another layer of bueauracy in the faithfulls’ commune with a god. But why must one suffer for a supernatural being who up to now has never even showed up.
That will all be news to her, since she is rotting in hell.
This justified me why i left the catholic faith…
I may better lose my religion if cory become a saint..Oh God please forgive me…
Makes me wanna consider converting to Buddhism
Pushing for sainthood? Mother&daughter fond of male big bananas…must be joking indeed!
Failipinos will push for anything as long as there is a chance to capitalize on it. They will even sell their souls to the Devil if they believe it is profitable; and many already have.
What in the name of saint peter’s cock?
Forgive me, i couldnt resist the pun
No government is best government.
this is a joke….right?
What? Declare Cory Aquino a Saint? Then why don’t we declare Kris Aquino the Devil too? Somewhere along the line there should be batches of the Aquinos worthy to be dubbed as the Devils Advocate also. Take your pick gentlemen because I will vote for Kris disguising herself as the devil herself. Sorry Kris you can include your corrupt brother Pnoy too. Let the Filipino people decide on your fate.
The Jesuit who wants Cory to be a saint must be a devil in disguise or maybe Satan himself. I doubt what those Illuminati Jesuits want. It’s just too immoral and blasphemous.
is Malaysia already owned parts of Mindanao including Palawan? how come?
There is little doubt the Chinese–Whether they came from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hongkong, or mainland China–already own most of the Failippines. And there is no one to thank for it but Failipinos themselves, for selling out their own country and people to anyone for the right price.
Sainthood? Do you even know what being a Saint means or what process a candidate to Sainthood has to go through? Did Cory, do any miracles? Did she bring the dead back to life? Was she able to let the blind see again? EDSA Rev, is not a miracle, but a conspiracy. She is no Mother Theresa or Lorenzo Ruiz. Give us a break! She could have done a miracle if she was able to tame down her daughter, who has spilled every detail of her life to everyone. Please people, stop this nonsense. It is either you are just plain crazy or just plain STUPID!
I doubt the Vatican would even bother. They’d take one look at Cory, then back to Mother Theresa and then laugh themselves silly. And then they’d keep the proposal somewhere just so they can have another laugh.
This is more laughable than Manila trying to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Sometimes it seems that the louder someone claims sainthood, the bigger the horns they are hiding.
It would be a disaster in heaven. What if she made it to canonization? God, hide all your treasures!
Correction, ms. Ilda. The Catholic Church’s rule is that the candidate must have been dead for at least five years only, not six.
Btw, a Roman Catholic as I am, I don’t want the Vatican canonizing this kind of person.
And that will be the day I will take to the streets in protest. Do not make a mockery of my Catholic faith.
I am so so so glad I left the catholic church for Science.
Amen to that!
If Cory deserve to be a saint why not? All of us called to be holy. Remember even st. Elizabeth of Hungary , st. Elizabeth of Portugal came from a royal families they are princess and queen but because of their Christian virtues they canonized by the church.
WTF? Comparing Cory ‘Cardinal Sins whore’ Aquino to princesses and queens?
She needs to be a “Servant of God” first, that means a Bishop starts to investigate her life first after deemed worthy, then the Bishops submits findings to the Vatican. If approved the Vatican grants a “Nihil Obstat” (nothing hinders). The Church postulator makes his case proving that she lived heroic virtues, if approved she becomes “Venerable”. Then she will need one miracle granted through her intercession, then she becomes “Blessed”. Canonization process requires another valid miracle after the beatification and then she can be declared a “Saint” by the Pope. Now, do you think someone will ask a Bishop will start working on her case to make Cory as saint?
noon bata at innocente pa ako pag sinabing demonyo satanas ang pumapasok sa imagination ko lalaking nakakatakot matatalim mata pati mga ngiti may buntot at pula ang paligid. pero ngayon husto na ang aking isip pag nakarinig ako ng salitang demonyo satanas or mga sakuna pagnanakaw etc ang pumapaso sa imahinasyon ko paligid na puro dilaw at nakangiting mukha ni cory na animoy humahalakhak hahahaha sige magdulasa kayo mga tanga at bobo
Saint? Are they stupid or what? They do go to church but that doesn’t mean she can be a saint. Lol show us an evidence like she perform a miracle. Then let us think if she can be a saint wahahaha.
HAIL SAINT MARCOS!!!!
DIBA YAN ANG IDOL NYO.
ALTERNATIVE VIEW.
The subject of the article is Cory. Why bring up Marcos on the comment thread? You must be the one secretly obsessed with Marcos.
<3 YES, I AM FULLY IN FAVOR OF MAKING HER SAINT CORY (Y)
I am fully and unequivocally in favor of canonizing Pres. Corazon C. Aquino provided a full investigation should be first conducted of her actuation before, during and after her term of office — especially on financial matters and how she used or otherwise misused and abused the vast powers of the Philippine presidency. If she passed the tests with flying colors, why not make her a saint? As long as the requirements are met, everybody is entitled to sainthood!
to the writer, this is an awesome article. for me, I’d simply say she do not deserve to be even considered as a saint (no offense to the pros). If a person cannot do anything to avoid blood shed (you remember mendiola and the hacienda incidents right) or anything to reach out to people in times of tragedy ( forgive me If I’m wrong but I do not recall seeing her do anything special during calamities in her time like the ones in ormoc, except maybe hide under her bed), then that person do not deserve to become a saint. I know everyone makes mistakes, but this is too much to take ( calling Cory a saint). Besides, would a saintly person continue to beat on and blame on people who the feel, have wronged them ?
She performed one miracle during her watch…transforming a dog into a hero…
she need one more miracle..to be called saint of dog…
Dami nyong bobo na naniniwala s mga fake lalo na sa get real philippines..kunsabagay uso kayo for 6 years
Ansakit pag mas matalino pa mga “bobo” sa mga tulad mo no, teh? =)
really? It’s like saying “let’s make Hitler the ‘saint of jews!'” i’m sorry. I may be DUMB, but not THAT STUPID,TO PROPOSE HER,OF ALL THE ASSHOLES IN THE WORLD, TO BE CONONIZED AS ONE.
If people are made to believe that the idea of hero-martyr-saint is in the genes then the offspring will surely inherit this genes, so if a mother is recognized as a saint with her husband who just been proclaimed as a hero-martyr, then they will have an offspring with the genes of hero-martyr- saint. If the old saying is true ” whatever is the tree will bear the fruit of the same tree”, so what could go wrong? And we all know the story in end.