Imelda on Baclaran flap: It’s OK

ILOCOS Norte Rep. Imelda Marcos is a devotee of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help and often attends Wednesday Masses at the Baclaran Church in Parañaque City, according to a member of her staff.

The staff member Ricardo Malasa was explaining Imelda’s presence at the Mass on Wednesday which, unknown to her, was intended to remember the victims of the martial law regime of her late husband, the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“We go there every Wednesday to hear Mass because we’re completing the novena for nine consecutive Wednesdays. It was our third Wednesday Thursday,” Malasa said in a statement.

But Malasa admitted that Imelda was just as shocked as the people who saw her at the church when she realized what the Mass was for.

“We wondered when there were references to martial law during the Mass. And then when it was almost over, a lot of media people arrived. We didn’t realize that was what it was about,” Malasa said in Filipino.

He added that when Imelda was told that there was an Edsa event at the church, she said in Filipino: “It’s OK, heaven is big enough for everyone and we all have something to pray for.”

Nardy Sabino, secretary general of the Promotion of Church People’s Response  ecumenical group which sponsored the Mass, said Imelda’s presence was a coincidence and the group had no idea that she would be hearing Mass there.

He said Imelda sat on a wheelchair in front near the altar, along with some martial law victims and human rights groups.