Bishops say mass, pray for Arroyo’s release

QUEZON CITY (PhilAmPress) — Five Roman Catholic bishops are the latest visitors of former President and now Pampanga congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
They did not just visit but said mass and prayed for the intercession of God for the release from detention and swift recovery of the ailing former president.
Archbishops Rolando Tirona of the Diocese of Nueva Caceres in Naga City;  Nerio Odchimar of Tandag, Surigao del Sur;  Diosdado Talamayan of Cagayan; Emilio Marquez of Quezon and  Ramon Villena of Nueva Vizcaya jointly officiated a Mass for Arroyo last week at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City.
The five bishops followed retired Lingayen-Pangasinan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, once a staunch critic of Arroyo, but who now has called for the house arrest of the former president so she could recover fast and face her many cases.

Cruz said the treatment of Mrs. Arroyo by the Aquino administration is “inhumane,” the same description by another visitor, former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte congresswoman Imelda Marcos.
Arroyo was joined in the mass by her son, Camarines Sur Rep. Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo and his family; chief os staff Raul Lambino and Larry Gadon and a handful staff of her staff.
In his homily, Villena said the Catholic leaders came to “encourage and help strengthen” Arroyo’s faith that she may continue to “fight for truth and justice.”
“They came to show their authentic friendship to someone who is suffering from sickness and injustice and to share their love and compassion to somebody who is being harassed and persecuted,” said Lambino.
Lambino said Arroyo was overwhelmed by the church leader’s visit. She served vegetables and fish as she invited them for lunch at the hospital suite where the former president had been placed under detention for nearly two years now.
A staff of the Pampanga lawmaker said police security men used to allow Arroyo to hear Mass at the VMMC chapel but this was taken away from her last December for still unknown reasons. (Jo Erlinda G. Nebres/PhilAmPress)