Praying for Cory

A good many persons have been holding and attending healing masses and prayer meetings for the recovery of their beloved icon — former President Corazon Aquino. Most of us know the meaning of the biblical passages — of all things working together for them who love God, and of more things being wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. So all who have come to worship and pray for Cory, come in the hope of her becoming well again.

Friday last week marked the last day in the nine novena masses held in Greenhills, and capped with a mass at Malacañang. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, subdued and looking so well, offered the chalice during the mass, something which she usually does not do. As Catholics know, the heart of the mass is the offering and consecration of the chalice, and Mrs. Arroyo, herself in need of prayer and divine guidance in these troubled times, offered the chalice solemnly. There were five priests celebrating the mass.

Present among the members of the Cabinet were Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita and Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila and Health Secretary Francisco Duque. Members of Cory’s Cabinet who were there included Heherson Alvarez, Lito Atienza, Obet Pagdanganan, Joe Concepcion, and Cayetano Paderanga Jr.

This week, five novena masses will be held at the Greenbelt chapel, and another set, from Monday to Friday next week, will be held at the Rockwell chapel. So many more prayer meetings are held — an indication of how well Cory is loved by many.

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The 2nd Rafael M. Salas Cup will be held August 7 at the PAF Golf Course, Pasay City, with former President Fidel V. Ramos leading the participants.

In naming the Cup after Rafael M. Salas, Forum president Ben de Leon says, “We remember him as one Filipino patriot par excellence who devoted and dedicated himself to serving his people in various private and government capacities (whose) dedication and commitment to population and development gained him the highest esteem and accolade from the community of nations through the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) as executive director with the rank of undersecretary-general.”

Salas, born into a prominent family in Bago City, Negros Occidental on August 7, 1928, earned his bachelor of arts, magna cum laude, and law degree, cum laude, from the University of the Philippines, of which he would became assistant vice-president from 1962 to 1963. He headed the Students Magsaysay-for-President Movement, a vital group that led to the election of Ramon Magsaysay as President of the Philippines in 1953.

As executive secretary under Marcos, he initiated changes to allow the president more time and freedom for broader decisions, among them removing cumbersome procedures that caused delays in the execution of government decisions, and correcting the Administrative Code. He also delegated back to government financial institutions the final authority to approve loans — an area that had been a potential source of corruption in the Office of the President. These changes were meant to make the Office of the President a political and administrative center, as well as the development center of the Philippines.

The most significant achievement of Malacañang as development center was the successful rice sufficiency program which Salas himself headed as action officer. In two years — from 1967 to 1969 — Salas, directing the rice and corn production coordinating council, succeeded in transforming the Philippines from a rice importer to a rice sufficient country — an event that had not happened in 81 years. This feat led writers to describe him as “a miracle of administrative action.”

Irreconcilable differences with President Marcos made Salas resign as executive secretary. In July 1969, he accepted the post of first executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) in New York. Originally an office of two men and one woman with a $2.5 million budget, he transformed the UNFPA into the world’s largest source of international population assistance, transferring, by the time of his death in 1987, some $2.5 billion to 145 countries.

In recognition of his remarkable achievement, he was promoted to the rank of undersecretary-general of the United Nations. He received 30 honorary degrees from 25 countries, including an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of the Philippines.

Salas became known in the international circle as “Mr. Population.”

The money raised at the 2nd Salas golf tournament will be used for The Forum’s continuing advocacy on population management and reproductive health. Inquiries about the tournament may be addressed to Susan Lugtu of the Forum office, 4265484 or email at [email protected], or through Ben de Leon, through mobile phone 0917-8587952.

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The Gerry Roxas Leadership Awardees, Inc., an independent, non-stock, non-profit organization, is holding a benefit dinner-dance at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 7, at the Kalayaan Hall 3 of the Club Filipino, Greenhills, San Juan City.

GRLA, Inc. president, Luchie A. Arguelles says proceeds of this event will go to the organization’s Tulong-Dunong scholarship program that gives assistance to underprivileged GRLAs to assure them of college education.

Since 1968, the Gerry Roxas Foundation, the award-giving body, has had 50,000 awardees from over 2,000 partner secondary schools all over the country. For inquiries, contact GRLA, Inc. Hub at (02) 4214006 or SMS to 0916-2101277.

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