THE EUNUCH WHO WILL BRING DOWN THE PHILIPPINES

Subject: THE EUNUCH WHO WILL BRING DOWN THE PHILIPPINES
Reply-To: Nonnie

This astounding story is lifted from Gerald Abueva's comment on Elizabeth's Angioco's column at the Manila Standard on August 18, 2014. Mr. Abueva was part of the delegation that accompanied Cory Aquino during her China visit in the spring of 1988. The story might as well have the title of:

THE EUNUCH WHO WILL BRING DOWN THE PHILIPPINES

In the spring of 1988, Cory went to China on a state visit. While there, she made it a point to reconnect with her ancestral roots. She went out of her way to travel to the southeastern fringe of China, to Hongjian village of Fujian province where her forebears came from. In typical chinese fashion of ancestor-worship and in violation of her Catholic faith, Cory offered incense to her chinese forebears in a local shrine. Before leaving the shrine to return to official business, Cory was approached by an elderly woman who appeared to be the shrinekeeper. With only one good eye left, the squinting gray-haired lady took one close look at Cory and gently raised her cupped hands to touch Cory's face. Before Cory could say anything, the old lady muttered something incomprehensible. An interpreter standing nearby inched in closer to translate the message. Baring a few teeth plated in gold, the shrinekeeper withdrew her hands except for a gnarled finger and warned Cory never to let her only begotten son get into politics. The old lady warned of dire consequences, not just to one person or one family but to an entire nation. There was something else the old lady said in one long breath which the interpreter appeared to be holding back from Cory and those around her. After some hesitation, the interpreter rather apologetically explained that the old lady likened Cory's only begotten son to a eunuch, a eunuch who would become emperor and inflict a lot of misery and sufferings on an entire nation. Worse, the eunuch emperor would cause the undoing of Cory and the Filipino people, just as eunuchs had caused the downfall of dynasties and empires in China, Ottoman and Persia. Those of us who were standing around Cory froze in disbelief at the awkward comparison. Emily Abrera couldn't help but blow a raspberry. Dismissing the prophecy as hogwash, the entourage left the scene for a tree-planting ceremony. No one knows how much Cory took the old lady's advise to heart. What we do know is that Cory for many years thumbed down Noynoy's desire to get into the senate until she relented in 2007. Late that same year, Cory was diagnosed with cancer that would ultimately spread to her colon. 26 years after that prophecy, the Philippines is teetering on the brink of a constitutional crisis, looming power crisis and the death of democracy. All because of Cory's only begotten son.