Noynoy begins retreat in south

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III kicked off yesterday his journey of “spiritual discernment” in a Carmelite monastery where he hopes to have a private conversation with his late mother’s confidante and spiritual adviser.

But Noynoy stressed his planned heart-to-heart talk with Sister Agnes is unlikely to make him decide immediately whether to run for president in 2010.

“We value her wisdom, I don’t think I’ll be here if we didn’t, but at the end of the day it’s still my decision,” Noynoy said. He said after his spiritual retreat, he will have to visit other places in the country to feel the public pulse or touch base with supporters.

Noynoy arrived here after a brief visit to Davao on a commercial PAL flight.

He said Sister Agnes’ counsel will help him decide prudently and perhaps calm his sisters who are themselves agonizing over his dilemma.

“She (Sis. Agnes) has already proven it to my mother,” Noynoy said when asked how the Carmelite sister’s advice can help him.

Noynoy is expected to fly back Friday to Manila before going to Tarlac, his home province.

People who chanced upon him at the Zamboanga International Airport chanted his name and some made it an occasion for photo-op.

No Obama

Earlier, in Davao City, Noynoy said he’d rather be known as a true follower of his parents than a “Barack Obama of the Philippines.”

“I do not want to be an Obama. Obama is not a proven entity yet. I want to be a follower of my parents,” Noynoy said at a press conference at the Bulwagan Hall of banana magnate Jesus Ayala, a close adviser of his mother who had also served as her legislative liaison officer.

Noynoy appeared to be retracing the steps taken by his mother in 1985 before she decided to represent the opposition in the 1986 snap elections.

The former president was reported to have frequented Davao City to consult Ayala regarding her strategies against the Marcos dictatorship. Even when she was already president, Mrs. Aquino would always stay with the Ayalas whenever she was in town.

Ayala, for his part, said he would support whatever decision Noynoy would make.

Noynoy also met with Mayor Rodrigo Duterte at the Marco Polo Hotel but the controversial mayor declined to divulge the details of their meeting. He said they merely talked about the automation of next year’s elections. He did not elaborate.

At the briefing with reporters in Davao, Noynoy also stressed that whatever decision he makes would be his own.

“It would be mine and my own decision alone. At the end of the day, it would be my decision,” the senator said.

He admitted that calls for him to run were mounting but that he would need more time to decide. “They are of equal weight,” he said of the voices urging him to run.

Duterte, on the other hand, said half-jestingly that Noynoy should sleep on the matter first.

“I told him to sleep on it first and when he wakes up, he will decide on it,” the mayor said. He said it could also be Noynoy’s destiny. – With Edith Regalado