Nuns keep alive story of Cory stay

SISTERS’ ACT Corazon Aquino, who challenged dictator Ferdinand Marcos in a “snap” presidential election in 1986, joined the Carmelite nuns for a group photo at their monastery in Barangay Mabolo in Cebu City where she sought refuge overnight when she was reportedly the prime target of an assassination plot by the military. PHOTO FROM THE CARMELITE MONASTERY ALBUM

IN THE FACE of danger and uncertainty, a monastery in Cebu City provided shelter to a woman hunted by the Marcos dictatorship.

The episode behind the cloistered walls of the Carmelite Monastery in Barangay Mabolo lasted for just 14 hours. But it was enough for Cory Aquino to get past the night when she was reportedly the prime target of an assassination plot by the military.

After three decades, the Carmelite nuns recall with gratitude the time when they opened their doors to Cory and a few companions.

“We need to keep the memory alive. We need to keep on telling the story just like how the Hebrews relive the story of redemption. By paying attention to history, we learn lessons,” said 87-year-old mother Mary Aimee Ataviado, who served as the mother superior of the Carmelite nuns when Cory spent a night in the monastery in 1986.

Except for their regular Mass and prayer schedules, the nuns have not prepared any special activity to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Cory’s overnight stay at the monastery as well as the Edsa People Power Revolution.

But the twin events will always have an indelible mark in the history of the Carmelite order in Cebu.

Phone call

Ataviado can still clearly remember a phone call from Cory’s close friend, Nancy Cuenco, around 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 22, 1986.

“It was my birthday. The nuns were washing the dishes after dinner when Nancy called me up and asked if she could bring Cory because she was in danger,” she told the Inquirer.

That day, Cory and her running mate, Salvador “Doy” Laurel, were in Cebu to launch a civil disobedience campaign against Ferdinand Marcos at Fuente Osmeña past 6 p.m. Also with them were Cory’s youngest daughter, Kris, then 14, and her brother, Jose “Peping” Cojuangco.

Cory’s supporters requested her to spend the night in Cebu since it was dangerous to return to Manila.

At the time, Lt. Gen. Defense Minister Juan Ponce Enrile and Armed Forces Vice Chief of Staff Fidel Ramos had just withdrawn support from Marcos, and throngs of Filipinos began to gather in the streets of Manila, calling for the ouster of Marcos.

Diversion

While having dinner with opposition leaders, Cuenco called up Ataviado whom she requested to accommodate Cory and her companions. Ataviado agreed.

To divert the attention of military officers who were tasked to monitor Cory, a convoy made its way to Mactan Cebu International Airport.

The military intelligence agents didn’t have an idea that Cory was in a white Ford sedan driven by Cuenco’s husband Antonio, who brought her to the Carmelite Monastery.

It took some time before Cory reached the monastery because the group still had to look for Kris. After a frantic search, they found out that Cory’s teenage daughter was just shopping in Cebu with friends, Ataviado said.

Cory’s group arrived at the Carmelite Monastery past 9 p.m.

Ataviado said the nuns let the car pass by a smaller gate, which was intended for the delivery of supplies. The Carmelites also turned the lights off so that no outsider would know about Cory’s arrival.

Like ‘Sound of Music’

Once inside the gate, Ataviado said Cory exclaimed “Oh, it’s like the ‘Sound of Music,’ alluding to the Broadway musical.

And then, she asked us, “Is it safe here?” Out of the blue, I answered, “They have to kill us first before they reach you.” Because of that, she felt safe, the mother superior said.

The Carmelite Monastery was supposed to be off limits to outsiders because contemplative nuns live there under papal enclosure.

Heads of state are exempted from such rule.

But at that time, it wasn’t clear who between Cory and Marcos won in the Feb. 7, 1986, snap presidential election.

Marcos, who was President of the country for two decades, called for the snap election to prove that he still had the support of Filipinos. He was declared winner by the Commission on Elections, but his victory was marred by reports of fraud, violence and disenfranchisement of voters.

Based on its own quick count, the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections had Cory winning in the snap election.

Nobody was supposed to enter the monastery but the nuns allowed Cory in because they believed she won in the election and so she was the rightful head of state at that point in time,Ataviado said.

“We let her in with a clear conscience that we didn’t violate any Church rules. For us, she was the head of state. If we believed otherwise, we could have done something against our regulations,” she added.

Cory and Kris were supposed to occupy the most comfortable room on the monastery’s second floor. It has two big windows and a terrace, but Ataviado said Cory didn’t feel safe staying in that room.

Cory instead chose a smaller room where religious images and office supplies were kept.

Ataviado said the nuns cleared the room and placed two beds for Cory and Kris. “We did our best to arrange it,” the mother superior said.

The nuns gave Peping Cojuangco another room, while spouses Nancy and Antonio Cuenco occupied another room.

Past 11 p.m., Cory was seen praying the Holy Rosary in her room before she slept. The nuns, who stayed up all night, also prayed.

Loud banging

Around 2 a.m., while the guests were asleep, Ataviado said the Carmelites heard loud banging at the iron gate.

“We (nuns) were all very scared. I was trembling, thinking that the soldiers of Marcos had arrived,” Ataviado said.

The nuns, she said, started to think of plans to hide Cory and Kris. They thought of letting the two guests wear their habits and pretend to be nuns.

There was also a suggestion to hide Cory and Kris at the ceiling above the choir loft.

The nuns did not open the gates and instead hid in fear inside the monastery. After about 30 minutes, the noise outside stopped.

When morning arrived, they learned that the persons who banged the gates were Cory’s supporters, Ramon Mitra Jr., John Osmeña and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. who just wanted to join the group inside the monastery.

Cory woke up around 6 a.m. and attended Mass in the monastery.

Breakfast

After which, Cory, Kris and the other guests had breakfast. Most of the food served were leftovers from the mother superior’s birthday dinner.

The menu included eggs cooked sunny-side up, sliced bread, puto (a Filipino rice cake shaped like an American muffin), bibingka (another type of rice cake that is traditionally cooked in clay pots lined with banana leaves), sikwati (hot native chocolate) and fresh papaya.

After breakfast, Cory received visitors who included US Consul Blaire Porter.

She was given the assurance that the United States would protect her in going back to Manila. The consul even offered a submarine so she could go back to Manila, Ataviado said.

Step down

While they were at the monastery, Cory’s supporters requested her to prepare a speech she was to deliver when she arrived in Manila. The message she wrote urged other government leaders to defect from Marcos. She also asked Marcos to step down.

Despite the tension, the nuns noticed that Cory had kept her faith and entrusted everything to God.

“She was very prayerful, a woman of God,” Ataviado said.

Cory left the monastery around 11 a.m. of Feb. 23, 1986, two days before Marcos relinquished his post and fled to Hawaii with his family in exile.

When Marcos left the country, Cory was sworn into office, becoming the first woman President of the Philippines.

Cory’s visits

Shortly before her six-year term ended in 1992, she returned to the Carmelite Monastery to visit the place where she took refuge at a time when her life was at risk. It was followed by two other visits, the last of which was in 1996.

Ataviado entertained queries and showed the Inquirer photographs of Cory’s visits to the Carmelite Monastery. The elderly superior was accompanied by four other nuns, who were present during the 1986 visit. They were Sisters Marietta Paul Maluenda, Melanie Costillos and Maria Luz Tapales.

As the country marks the 30th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution, the mother superior encouraged every Filipino not to waste the efforts of those who worked hard for freedom and democracy.

“[If we look at our history], God is really taking care of us. Let us continue to learn from the events of life and do our best to do God’s will because the progress of the nation and the salvation of our souls depend on it,” she said.

“We can say that God really has a mission for the Philippines. There is no end to problems, but we have to keep on working [for the good of our country],” she added.