This was the surprise national leaders discovered at the Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan on Wednesday when President Arroyo shed tears in public for the first time after she was overwhelmed by prayers of support from nuns of the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM).
The President was teary-eyed as Filipino-French nun Gloria Ross and the rest of the RVM congregation "prayed over" her during the 68th birthday party of former ambassador to the US Ernesto Maceda.
"Sister Gloria (the nun) felt the strong presence of the ‘healing Jesus’ during the ‘pray over’ and I saw the President herself was teary-eyed with the prayers of the sisters," Maceda told The STAR.
The birthday bash was attended by national leaders of all political colors, making it appear like a "national reconciliation" party even in the midst of Iraq war, Maceda said.
Among the guests were businessman Eduardo "Danging" Cojuangco and his wife Gretchen, Cabinet members who included Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo, congressional leaders like Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda (Lakas), Sen. Manuel Villar (Lakas), Sen. Robert Barbers (Lakas), Sen. Vicente Sotto III (LDP), Sen. Tessie Aquino-Oreta (LDP), Sen. John Osmeña (Independent) and Sen. Luisa Ejercito (PMP) and Supreme Court Associate Justice Artemio Panganiban.
Also present were local government executives, led by Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
It was actually the second time that Sister Gloria and other RVM nuns prayed over Mrs. Arroyo. The first time was on Jan. 3 at Malacañang, two weeks after Sister Gloria prayed over deposed President Joseph Estrada at the Mother Ignacia Healing Center in Barangay Bayombong in Caloocan City.
Estrada had then claimed that he was miraculously healed of his severe gout after Sister Gloria bathed him in the healing center’s supposedly miraculous spring waters.
The STAR learned that the President’s close friends asked Maceda to arrange that Sister Gloria and other RVM nuns pray over the 55-year-old Chief Executive a few days after she declared on Dec. 30 that she will not run for president in 2004.
Maceda said Sister Gloria is healing Christian believers at the miraculous springs as part of the congregation’s campaign for the beatification of the RVM’s founder, Mother Ignacia del Espiritu Santo.