GMA finds solace in Pangasinan grotto

ROSALES, Pangasinan — Amid controversies hounding both her administration and her personal life, President Arroyo took an hour off from her presidential duties yesterday to hear Mass and pray at the Our Lady of Rosales grotto here.

The grotto, where the Virgin Mary was reported seen several times between 1987 and 1994, is in the middle of a rice field and has since served as a pilgrimage site for local Catholics.

Presidential Security Group (PSG) personnel were already busy preparing since early yesterday morning for the President’s arrival at around 9 a.m.

Visitors from other towns also flocked to Barangay Station here to hear Mass celebrated by Fr. Ronnie Aaron.

Mayor Julieta Yu said that it was actually Mrs. Arroyo’s second visit to the place. The first was when she was still vice president.

Yu said she knew days earlier that Mrs. Arroyo would be coming over but there was no high-profile preparations as the President said she wanted some privacy.

Mrs. Arroyo was accompanied only by a handful of Pangasinan leaders, including Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., his wife Gina and Pangasinan Representatives Arturo Celeste, Amado Espino, Generoso Tulagan and Conrado Estrella III.

"She looked happy and relaxed," Yu said when asked to describe the President’s mood during the brief visit.

After the ZMass, Mrs. Arroyo had breakfast with Rowell Darang, 30, who was supposedly the first one to see St. Mary’s apparition in 1987.

Retired district supervisor Alex Quiton told The STAR that before leaving the town to proceed to Camp Aquino in nearby Tarlac, she shook the hands with the townspeople here.