“THE ATTEMPT to distort history is reprehensible. Depicting the nuns as playing
mahjong with Cory Aquino is malicious. It would suggest that while the fate of the
country was in peril, we could afford to leisurely play games.”
Thus, members of the Order of the Carmelites based at the Carmelite Monastery
in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City decried the trailer of the propaganda film “Maid in
Malacañang” showing the late President Corazon Aquino playing mahjong with a
group of nuns inside their monastery at height of the People Power Revolt in
February 1986.
In the statement released Aug.2, Sr. Mary Melanie Costillas made “… it be known
that no one responsible for the production of the movie came to us to gather
information on what really happened. Any serious scriptwriter or movie director
could have shown such elementary diligence before making such movie.”
She said that many of the nuns who were in the monastery when Aquino sought
refuge in 1986 “are still very much alive and alert” one of whom she identified as
the then-superior Sr. Mary Aimee Ataviado.
Contrary to what the movie depicted, Sr. Costillas said the nuns at the monastery
were actually “praying, fasting and making other forms of sacrifices for peace in
this country and for the people’s choice to prevail.”
“While in our prayer, we were constantly in fear that the military will come to
know of the whereabouts of Ms. Cory Aquino and would soon be knocking at the
monastery’s door. We knew the dangers of allowing Ms. Aquino to hide in the
monastery. But we also prayerfully discerned that the risk was worth it, as our
contribution to put an end to a dictatorial regime,” Sr. Costillas said.
“Indeed, we were ready to defend her at all cost,” the nun added.
She noted that: “Over more than seven decades, Cebuanos have asked us to pray
for their intentions. With the grace of God, we take this vocation to pray for and
with the people in all seriousness. But the pictures would imply that while the
country’s fate was in the balance, we mindlessly were simply playing games. Thus,
if these pictures would be taken as authentic representation of what really
happened, they would put into doubt the trust that the people have placed in us.”
In closing, Sr. Costilla pointed out that the Order of Carmelite in Cebu is praying
for unity of Filipinos: “But this unity can only be built on truth and not on
historical distortion.”
The good sister be blessed!
Ah, to what depths of depravity their minions would descend just to whitewash
the reprehensible Marcos legacy.
