MANILA, Philippines — Prayers, not visits, are what’s needed for the healing of “Tita Cory.”

This was the message Friday of Corazon Aquino’s spokesperson as the former President continued to battle cancer at the Makati Medical Center under the watchful eye of her doctors and her children.

“I’m sorry because nobody’s allowed to visit her, not even us who worked closely with her. All those who want to visit, we’re just asking them to please pray. It’s really useless for anyone to try and see her,” Deedee Siytangco said of the 76-year-old Aquino after the third of nine healing Masses was celebrated at the Sto. Niño de Paz chapel in Greenbelt 5 in Makati City.

On the phone later in the day, Siytangco said the former President’s doctors had prescribed “full rest,” with visits limited to her children and members of the medical team.

Thanking Ms Marcos

Siytangco said former first lady Imelda Marcos’ request that she be allowed to see Aquino had to be declined, but “the family would like to thank Mrs. Marcos” and “all the others who want to see her.”

Even foreign TV and newspaper correspondents have swamped Siytangco with requests to visit the former President, who was diagnosed with colon cancer early last year.

“I wish we could grant their request, but it’s just not possible,” Siytangco said.

But the ongoing novena of healing Masses held daily at 12:15 p.m. is open to everyone.

“I have invited them to join us in storming the heavens with prayers for Tita Cory’s recovery,” Siytangco said.

Strong spirit

Actress and TV host Kris Aquino, the former President’s youngest daughter, also appealed to the public to respect the family’s privacy.

“Let’s continue to pray for her,” she said, adding that she and her siblings had chosen to keep the details of their mother’s condition private because it was “painful” to talk about the matter.

“I just want to assure everybody na nakakausap namin siya (we are able to speak with her). Her spirit continues to be very strong,” Kris, her eyes brimming, said Thursday on her late-night talk show “Showbiz News Ngayon,” which she co-hosts with Boy Abunda on ABS-CBN.

Night shift

Kris said the crisis had brought the family “so much together.” She said she and her brother, Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, were looking after their mother at night, while their siblings “have taken the day shift.”

Senior Supt. Cedrick Train, the police chief of Makati, said his men were on standby to address any threat to the Aquinos’ privacy.

According to a radio report, Kris Aquino had complained that an unidentified person tried to get inside the former President’s hospital room. But Train said the information turned out negative.

He said his men were now guarding the hospital perimeter and security guards were taking charge of safety inside the building.

God’s blessings

As prayers continued to be said for Aquino, Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), asked for God’s blessings on the icon of democracy.

“My prayer for her is, may the Lord bless and take care of her,” Lagdameo said in a statement posted on the CBCP news website.

Lagdameo said Aquino was “the instrument of God and the people” in bringing back democracy to a country beset by the Marcos dictatorship.

He added: “She can be considered the mother of our country’s democracy. And we hope that we’ll not lose this democracy under the present administration.”

Lagdameo also called on the faithful to pray for Aquino’s immediate and full recovery.

Grateful memories

Caceres Archbishop Leonardo Legazpi, the CBCP president during Aquino’s administration, lauded the former President for being “very supportive” of the Catholic Church in the Philippines.

Legazpi said the Church had “very grateful memories” of Aquino, including the holding of the historic Second Plenary Council of the Philippines during her term.

“We are, of course, one with the country in praying for the will of God to be fulfilled in her. She is the distinct development that has been present in our life,” Legazpi said.

Enrile’s prayers

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, a key player of Edsa I people power revolution who at one point had a falling out with Aquino, also called for prayers.

“We have to pray for her. When a fellow human being is in that condition, we should not think anything political about it. What is needed is prayer,” said Enrile, who was said to be behind the coup attempts against the Aquino administration in the late 1980s.

Enrile, 85, said the last time he spoke with Aquino was in February, during the Edsa I anniversary celebration.

He refused to say what they talked about, saying it was between the former President and himself.

“I’ve reconciled with her a long time ago. That’s how I am—I don’t harbor any ill will against anybody,” he told reporters.

Mayor Lim hears Mass again

Old and new faces were at Friday’s third healing Mass for the former President.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim again joined the prayers and promised to do so until the last Mass on Thursday next week.

“We will finish [the novena] because we owe her a lot. The nation owes her for bringing about the freedom that we enjoy today. This is why we hope that she will recover from her ailment,” said Lim, who, as chief of the Northern Police District, disobeyed orders to clear EDSA (Epifanio delos Santos Avenue) of demonstrators during the people power revolt in February 1986.

Justice Flerida Ruth Romero, who led the reading of the novena prayer, said Aquino was “a woman of courage, faith and strength.”

“I am most privileged to have worked with her for about five years in Malacañang, and I know she is truly a spiritual lady. We take comfort in the thought that the Lord Jesus Christ and Mama Mary and all the angels are around us and hovering around her, bringing her not only comfort but also freedom from pain,” said Romero, who served as Aquino’s special assistant.

Among the new faces at the Mass were Makati Rep. Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin, Quezon Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada III, Voltaire Gasmin, ex-commander of the Presidential Security Group, and retired Maj. Gen. Ramon Montaño.

‘Icon of honest governance’

Montaño, the former commanding general of the Armed Forces’ Narcotics Command, recalled that soldiers “mutinied” for the people who were calling for change during Edsa I.

“That was our feeling after so much abuse, so much corruption under the Marcos administration: Maybe change will come, and she represented that change,” he said, hailing Aquino as the “icon of very honest governance.”

“We were not members of the [Reform the Armed Forces Movement, or RAM], but we joined [the revolt] because we believed in her. And in the Armed Forces, we were on her side. Even though it was a very unpopular move, we joined her because we believed that she was the right person to lead the country at the time,” Montaño said. Reports from Allison W. Lopez, Fe Zamora, Marinel R. Cruz, Norman Bordadora and Christine O. Avendaño