MAID IN MALACANANG | Carmelite nuns slam ‘malicious’ information on Cory Aquino’s portrayal in the film about EDSA uprising

August 2, 2022 , 06:57 PM

By Clarist Zablan

(August 2, 2022) – The superior of a Carmelite monastery in Cebu City on Tuesday slammed the viral screenshots of a controversial film for making false claims on their role in protecting former president Corazon Aquino during a popular uprising that toppled a dictator in 1986.

Sister Mary Melanie Costillas, the prioress of the Carmelite Monastery of Cebu, said the images of what appeared to depict of the Carmelite nuns playing mahjong with Aquino a few days before former President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. was deposed in the People Power uprising is false and “malicious.”

Although Aquino was not named in the film, there was a scene where a woman wearing a yellow dress was shown. Cory Aquino’s signature dress was yellow.

“The attempt to distort history is reprehensible,” Costillas said in a statement. “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.”

“THE ATTEMPT TO DISTORT HISTORY IS REPREHENSIBLE”

Malisyoso anila ang paglalawaran sa mga madre na naglalaro ng mahjong kasama si dating pangulong Cory Aquino sa pelikulang “Maid in Malacañang,” ayon sa Carmelite Sisters. pic.twitter.com/38sBYMGtH6

— News5 (@News5PH) August 2, 2022

In screenshots of the upcoming film “Maid in Malacañang” that trended on social media, the character who appeared to be Aquino was depicted ordering over a telephone call to apparently chase out the Marcoses from the country. She later went to a group of nuns to play mahjong.

The nuns in the screenshots were not dressed in the religious habit associated with the Order of Discalced Carmelites, but it is known based on historical records that Aquino went in hiding in the Carmelite monastery in Cebu on the eve of February 22, 1986.

At that time she was warned that her life was under threat after then-defense minister Juan Ponce Enrile and then-General Fidel Ramos broke away from the Marcos regime.

Costillas said that rather than playing mahjong, the nuns at that time were praying and fasting while fearing for their lives as they prepared to defend Aquino from the military while she was hiding in the monastery.

She said the production team of the movie could have reached out to the sisters who participated in protecting Aquino in the monastery, many of whom are still alive to this day.

“Let 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 a movie,” Costillas said.

The film “Maid in Malacañang” is described to depict the lives of the Marcos family during the People Power uprising that led to Marcos Sr. ‘s ouster and their exile in Hawaii.

Darryl Yap, the director of the movie, has claimed that the film was based on a reliable source, but the content from its promotional materials have received criticisms for historical distortion that seeks to whitewash the atrocities under the Marcos dictatorship.

“[We] are praying for the unity of Filipinos. But this unity can only be built on truth and not on historical distortion,” Costillas said.

(MM)

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