MANILA, August 6, 2009— Posters already declaring it, some people are pushing it and even bishops are backing the swelling campaign to declare the country’s “icon of democracy” a saint.

The latest to give the push for former president Corazon Aquino’s sainthood is Archbishop Ramon Arguelles who considers her worthy.

But even if those pushing for it turns multitude, that start of Roman Catholicism’s saint-making machine seems to go an uphill battle.

For someone to be canonized a saint, the Vatican must verify two miracles attributed her, and in the process can even take centuries.

“It’s not bad (Aquino as a saint). One who declares someone to be a saint is God and then the church will only affirm. Definitely she’s a saint,” said Archbishop Arguelles over Church-run Radyo Veritas Thursday.

The prelate said because of Aquino’s great contributions to the Church and to the country, “certainly she’s now in heaven.”

He said the Church declares a person to be saint in order to serve as model to all the Catholic faithful.

“If I’m the pope, I will recognize her (Cory) as saint,” said Archbishop Arguelles of the Archdiocese of Lipa.

But even if the Church rejects campaign to declare Mrs Aquino a saint, he said she will still be regarded as a “model” by many people in and outside the country.

“That would be enough. In God’s own time, if God wants her to be a symbol for many people, then we can say that she’s really a saint on her political life... Saint of People Power,” he said.

According to Archbishop Arguelles, it is admirable for Aquino to continuously profess her Catholic faith in God even while occupying the highest post in the land.

In fact, the archbishop said, Aquino’s analysis on contemporary problems is couched in religious and spiritual parable.

“A woman like her is a gift of God to humanity,” he said.

Aquino is the first female president in the Philippines and in Asia and is one of the known architects of the iconic EDSA People Power 1 Revolution in 1986, which led to the ouster of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos and the dissolution of Martial Law.

On Wednesday night, Cory was buried beside husband Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City. She died after a long bout with colon cancer last Saturday while confined at the Makati Medical Center.

Aquino’s case, said Archbishop Arguelles, can be compared to that of English statesman, Saint Thomas More, who gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar and public official in the 16th century.

Sir More was declared a Patron Saint of Politicians and Statesman in the year 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

“Saint Thomas More was a great politician. He said, ‘I am the faithful subject of the King but of God first’. Cory is the lady St. Thomas More,” Arguelles said.

Under the Church doctrine, the process of canonization begins with the authorization of a bishop to open an investigation on the concerned individual. However, it may not take place less than five years after the person’s death.

In the process, the candidate for sainthood may be declared as a “venerable” and to “blessed” depending on the availability of information gathered.

The last step is when the Holy See canonizes the said individual, thus entitling him or her own assigned feast day. (Roy Lagarde)