WHATEVER may be the judgment of history on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., he should be praised for consecrating our country to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and not just once, but twice: in 2024 and last week.
On June 14 at the Manila Cathedral, President Marcos and first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos attended the Sunday Mass launching the six-month nationwide devotional tour of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Virgin Mary as she appeared to Mexican farmer Saint Juan Diego in 1531 and centuries later became the secondary patroness of the Philippines after her Immaculate Conception.
At the Mass, President Marcos, as head of state, reconsecrated the country to Our Lady of Guadalupe, renewing what he did in his Malacañang residence around January 2024 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K8gewoYPEk). And as in other national prayers at least in recent years, God may be granting what the two consecrations petitioned, though Marcos might not be thrilled with the way heaven seems to be answering his prayers on our nation’s behalf.
And God’s responses could well point the way forward in our troubled time far better than political maneuvering and news commentaries.
When prayers work
In our largely secular or non-religious era, doubts abound about the efficacy of prayer. But dismissing it may seem unwise after considering what happened in our country after nationwide pleadings to the Almighty in recent years by State and Church leaders, and Filipinos heeding their calls for prayer.
Early in the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) contagion, around the time he declared nationwide quarantine lockdown in mid-March 2020, then-president Rodrigo Duterte called on the nation to pray, despite his diatribes against God and leading Catholic prelates in preceding years, including Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, who later became president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) and cardinal.
The CBCP also promulgated “oratio imperata” prayers for protection against Covid-19, similar to those in past years against drought, typhoons and other calamities. The bishops also decreed prayers in all Masses for peace in the country, the region and the world amid rising threats of conflict.
Did the prayers work? For sure, pains and problems did not totally vanish. Still, the Philippines was spared the worst of Covid-19 suffered even by rich nations like Italy, Spain and the United States, and other teeming Asian countries like China, India and Indonesia. That’s why Duterte got 81-percent approval rating for his handling of the contagion, probably the highest among world leaders.
We’ve had oratio imperata for peace during escalating frictions with China after President Marcos allowed the US to weaponize our country for possible war over Taiwan. Now, after President Donald Trump’s recent Beijing visit, war seems less likely with his statements setting aside his predecessor’s policies which seemed to nudge Taiwan toward independence and pledged to intervene if China invaded.
We have also prayed and protested against corruption, not just over the flood control scam, but during other scandals in decades past. Yet graft got worse despite the fall of two corruption-tainted presidents. Even the supposedly clean administration of Benigno Aquino III was, in fact, plagued with the worst smuggling ever and the largest malversation. Now, the biggest scams ever may have finally stirred the people to act.
Or not: The Trillion-Peso Marches against multibillion-peso infrastructure kickbacks have stopped as the issue faded from the headlines, and the administration’s political and media allies shifted public attention to blocking Vice President Sara Duterte from the presidency by impeaching and convicting her.
Now that the pro-Marcos bloc has regained Senate control, even testimonies of kickback-carrying bodyguards, like those of their employer and former House budget committee chairman Elizaldy “Zaldy” Co, will likely be kept out of the public eye.
Instead, Sara’s alleged anomalies will be played up, not the flood mess and the monies allegedly given to the Marcos camp, including the president, his cousin and former House speaker Martin Romualdez, and dozens of congressmen, including those who twice voted to impeach Sara, then got well over P150 million each in government outlays and may now be spared immediate and full investigation and prosecution.
Not what Marcos prayed for
So, will the Marcos camp get its way — finally blocking Vice President Duterte from Malacañang and sweeping the worst corruption in our history under the rug after a few scapegoats are jailed?
That also serves the US agenda for another pro-American Philippine leader to succeed Marcos and continue escalating American and allied forces in our country for possible war over Taiwan, which may yet happen after some years when the US military has restocked armaments expended in the Middle East and Ukraine.
In fact, that was not what Marcos prayed for in his two consecrations of our nation to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
In January 2024, he warned of “a terrible storm raging around us, threatening to disperse and destroy the faithful flock of those who bless thee because thou art the Mother of our Lord Jesus.... Save us O Lord, for we perish.” At that time, Marcos warned about the Philippines becoming a “front line” in a new conflict, as we were in World War II, being America’s military outpost in Asia.
The president also prayed: “Make our Lord Jesus reign, conquer and rule in it (the Philippines) as King, for outside of Him there is no salvation.... Unite all the Filipino people around thy divine Son in the love of the Church and also in the civilization of virtue and respect for order and fraternal charity, Queen of Peace, pray for us.”
At the June 14 Sunday Mass celebrated by Manila Archbishop Jose Cardinal Advincula Jr., President Marcos called on “the infinite power of redemption, the power of merciful love. May it destroy the power of sin and evil among us.”
Now, if God is to protect the Philippines from superpower conflict, let His Son’s love, virtue and justice reign over us, and destroy sinful and evil powers, will He let Marcos have his way? Let’s watch and pray.
