The gracious guest
Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal isn’t worried about President Benigno Aquino III making a pitch for the Reproductive Health Bill in Friday’s Thanksgiving Mass for Saint Pedro Calungsod.
Reporters asked Vidal what he’d do if this unlikely surprise happens when the President addresses the crowd.
“Bahala siya. Sinong mapapahiya?” the retired prelate said last week.
Roughly translated: “It’s up to him. Who would end up looking embarrassed?”
Vidal as overall chairman of the Calungsod preparations and the saint’s most fervent advocate has the privilege to preside over the Nov. 30 Mass at the new temple in the South Road Properties. His preeminent role was recognized by his successor, Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma.
Vidal has more reason not to worry about any awkward advocacy for the RH bill following Mr. Aquino’s toned down “takedown” of the national media at the Media Nation, an annual no-holds-barred summit on media and press freedom issues held in Tagaytay City.
According to Inquirer columnist Amando Doronilla, the President’s line of fire focused on what he said was the need for “consistent standards” in the media, the lack of which he stressed had contributed to “conflicts of interests” and eventually corruption, the summit’s theme.
Would Aquino dare confront his church hosts on Friday with a topic that would have him, in essence, preaching to a hostile choir?
He’s certainly not shy about putting event sponsors in their place by sharing his “disappointments” about their conduct, all with a typical grin on his face.
We recall the number of engagements where the President gave a sermon to media event organizers. There’s the ABS-CBN anniversary this year, the Bureau of Immigration anniversary, the Philippine Press Institute’s National Press Forum held last April and last week’s Media Nation Summit.
If Aquino is tempted to use the podium before close to a million Catholic faithful to nudge support for the RH bill, he courts a stony silence from his hosts and heavy fallout from a largely traditional base of Catholics in Cebu.
“He is the president,” said Vidal, who explained that organizers don’t have to tell him what to say or avoid saying.
Aquino certainly has the prerogative.
But he’s also sensible and knows his role as the gracious guest, whose request to address the Filipinos on this important occasion, broadcast across the country and abroad, was accommodated only because of his rank.
We anticipate the President, who didn’t have time to go to Rome for the Oct. 21 canonization, won’t blow his chance to honor a heaven-marked hero like Pedro Calungsod.
