Catechism + Apologetics = TRUTH: ISN'T THIS SACRILEGE? NOYNOY REMOVED THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY FROM MALACANAN CHAPEL AND TRANSFERRED TO STOCKROOM by Atty. Marwil Llasos

The late President Corazon C. Aquino with Our Lady of Fatima

Isn’t this sacrilege?: Noynoy Removed an Image of the Virgin Mary from the Malacañang Chapel and Transferred it to the Stockroom

Prayerful President: The late Corazon C. Aquino prays the Holy Rosary

The late President Corazon C. Aquino is remembered as a very prayerful woman. She was a faithful daughter of the Catholic Church. She was a well-known devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[1] In the midst of trials and sufferings, the late President Cory found solace and comfort in her Catholic faith. She was an ardent promoter of the Holy Rosary.[2]

Icons of Philippine democracy: The late Cory Aquino and the late Jaime Cardinal Sin

The martyred Sen. Benigno S. Aquino, Jr., was admittedly not religious at first. But when he was in prison, he became a deeply spiritual person, entrusting himself to the God he newly discovered. To keep his sanity intact, he prayed the Rosary for at least fifty times a day (as he had nothing else to do). As he said, the dictatorship could break his body but not his indomitable spirit.

"Faith in our people and faith in God" - Sen. Ninoy Aquino, Jr.

The only son of Ninoy and Cory seemed to be cast from a different mold. I campaigned and voted for him in 2010 because I was made to believe, based on his campaign propaganda, that he is of the same mold as his parents – the martyred Ninoy and the sainted Cory.

I Am Ninoy yellow Rosary bracelet and wrist band:

It may be recalled that Noynoy Aquino exhibited the same piety and spirituality before when he went on a spiritual retreat in a Carmelite Monastery in Zamboanga City before he bared his plans for the 2010 presidential elections.[3]

PCSO Chairman Margarita Juico lied through her teeth

When he finally became President, his true color showed. Early in is term, he expressed his willingness to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church just to push the passage of the RH Bill.[4] The attacks on the “Pajero” bishops followed. It turned out that none of them received a Pajero, contrary to the widely televised accusation of PCSO Chairman Margarita Juico (who perjured herself during the Senate investigation on the matter).

Blessed, soon to be Saint, Pedro Calungsod of Cebu

President Noynoy Aquino, breaking tradition, skipped the installation of Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle, D.D. as Archbishop of Manila. Citing his “tight schedule,” President Noynoy Aquino is not attending the canonization of the 2^nd Filipino saint Blessed Pedro Calungsod in Rome this October.[5] Not only that, President Noynoy Aquino, again due to “tight schedule,” is also not sure if he can attend the National Thanksgiving Mass for the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod in Cebu this November.[6]

President Noynoy Aquino is too busy to attend the canonization of St. Pedro Calungsod

President Noynoy Aquino has been increasingly perceived to be aloof or indifferent, if not totally antagonistic, to the Catholic Church. Noynoy Aquino, by the standards of his parents Ninoy and Cory, seems to be not a faithful and dutiful son of the Church.

That is not all.

President Noynoy Aquino ordered that an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary be removed from Malacanang Chapel and transferred to the stockroom according to Charlie Manalo of The Daily Tribune, April 24, 2012

I heard from reliable sources that the daily Mass in Malacañang has already been abolished under the present dispensation (well, President Noynoy Aquino is not a daily Mass-goer, anyway). Masses were held daily even during Martial Law and until the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. There are also reports that President Noynoy Aquino ordered that the Blessed Sacrament be removed from the Palace chapel.[7]

President Noynoy Aquino with the portrait of his mother Cory Aquino, an ardent devotee of the Blessed Virgin Mary

To top it all, it was reported that late last year 2011, President Noynoy Aquino ordered that an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary inside Malacañang Chapel be removed and placed inside the stockroom despite the protestations of the members of the Presidential Security Group.[7]

What was the reason for the President’s order to remove the image of the Blessed Mother from her rightful place in the palace chapel to the bodega?

Abomination of Desolation: President Noynoy Aquino is reported to have ordered the removal of the Blessed Sacrament from the palace chapel

“And his only reason was that the he doesn’t want that particular image of the Virgin Mary inside the Malacañang Chapel as it was brought there by his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,” reports The Daily Tribune on April 24, 2012.[8] Columnist Charlie Manalo comments, “Not only unpresidential but outrightly sacrilegious.”[9]

The Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom the late Cory Aquino was devoted, bears the brunt of President Noynoy's vindictiveness against his predecessor Gloria Arroyo

Modesto P. Sa-onoy of The Visayan Daily Star likewise commented on the same event:

“Some months back I was told that President Aquino passed by the Malacanang chapel and saw the image of the Blessed Mother and he directed that this be removed because it was donated at the time when Gloria Arroyo was president, as if the image is part and a ghost of Gloria Arroyo.”[10]

The President’s actuation is very petty and childish. His vindictiveness towards the Gloria Macapagal Arroyo regime did not spare the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Vindictiveness is never a justification for sacrilege.