MANILA, Philippines -- The outpouring of prayers for ailing President Cory Aquino was akin to the years before the 1986 People Power Revolution when the Philippines was a "prayerful nation," Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said Sunday in his homily at the healing Mass for Aquino at the Greenbelt 5 chapel in Makati City.

"We should all go back to the prayerful nation that we were before the 1986 Edsa Revolution and during her administration," said Arguelles, a Marian priest.

"I've never seen an administration closer to God than during her administration," he added after the Mass.

"Healing priest" Father Fernando Suarez is scheduled to officiate at Monday’s healing Mass for Aquino, her spokesperson, Deedee Siytangco, said.

The bloodless uprising on the Edsa highway in 1986 ended the decades-long Marcos dictatorship, restored democracy in the country, and installed Aquino as the country’s first woman president.

The former President was diagnosed with colon cancer last year. She has been confined at the Makati Medical Center (MMC) since June 25 for weakness and loss of appetite.

From her hospital bed, Aquino continues to pray "for the nation," Social Welfare Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman told the Philippine Daily Inquirer (parent company of INQUIRER.net) on Sunday.

“She has not changed. She's still praying the rosary. She's praying for all of us, for the nation,” Soliman said.

In the 1980s, Aquino, a Marian devotee, was given a special rosary "to protect her and her presidency" by Sister Lucia, the last seer of Fatima. The rosary was handmade by Sister Lucia, who died in 2005.

In past interviews, Aquino said the rosary helped her survive seven coup attempts against her administration. She had also lent the rosary to her friends who suffered serious illnesses.

The Jesus is Lord Movement (JIL) led by Brother Eddie Villanueva also held a special prayer for the healing of Aquino at the Music Museum in Greenhills, San Juan City.

During the Mass, Villanueva prayed over Aquino, who was represented by former Agrarian Reform Secretary Philip Juico and his wife Margie, who was the social secretary in Malacañang during the Aquino administration. Margie continues to work as the former president’s secretary at the Benigno S. Aquino Jr. Foundation.
Jesus is Lord spokesperson Andrea E. Trinidad said Villanueva had issued a pastoral letter to all JIL congregations in the Philippines and 44 other countries, to hold a special prayer for Aquino on July 5.

Villanueva had also sent a letter to the Philippines for Jesus Movement, an organization of different evangelical churches, as well as to the Intercessors for the Philippines, a lay organization, to hold special prayers for the ailing former president, she said.

Justice Adolf Azcuna, who served as Aquino's legal adviser, read the novena prayer for the fifth day of the nine-day novena of healing Masses held at the Sto. Niño de Paz chapel at Greenbelt 5.

Former members of Aquino's cabinet attended the novena with their families, as they have been doing since July 1, when she was reported to be in "serious" condition.

One churchgoer did not just pray for Aquino, she also sent her an image of Mary the Mediatrix.
Aquino's spokesperson Deedee Siytangco said the image would be brought to the former president's room at the MMC.