MANILA, Philippines - You may be wondering why the President had that Midnight Mass, to invoke the aid of Almighty God to keep her in power. After all, according to one description, so-called “Black Masses” were performed by priests to curse enemies, a practice condemned by the Catholic Church. The satanic characteristics of those gathered at the Palace aside, the purpose of the Mass was apparently to ward off white magic.

Cerge “Wormtongue” Remonde says, of course, it was a genuine Mass, part of a First Friday tradition of long standing in official circles. The Philippine News Agency, on the other hand, reported that First Friday Masses are held at 9 p.m. during the first Friday of every month, while the First Saturday Masses are held three hours later at 12:01 a.m. during the first Saturday of every month. The PNA further reported that what the President attended was the First Saturday Mass that started at 11:42 p.m. (Friday, Nov. 7) and ended at 12:18 a.m. (Saturday, Nov. 8) at the Heroes Hall.

Typically, Palace officials couldn’t get their timelines and stories straight. I don’t blame them because it’s difficult to address why the President is so enamored of the Witching Hour for her important prayer and political actions.

Since the Palace is more associated with the profane rather than the sacred, some sacrilegious souls asked whether the leading lights at the Malacañang Mass were there in expectation of “love offerings” from the President. Even if the Palace cash bar seems to have been cash-strapped lately, surely they wouldn’t hold and attend Masses in expectation of little brown bags as a congratulatory offertory from the President: that would really have made it a Black Mass!

Indeed, Evelyn Kilayko said the intentions of the Mass were perfectly wholesome: unity, peace, sobriety—and for a safe and fruitful trip for the President, who is set to leave for the United States tonight. The President’s mission? To get that elusive photo opportunity with Barack Obama! Never in the history of Church and State has heaven been stormed to such an extent, and all for a Kodak moment. So it was a Kodachrome Mass.

Let us assume, then, with genuine Christian charity, that the prelate who said the Malacañang Mass, Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez (self-proclaimed origin of the idea to divide Quezon Province), and 3rd District of Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez, who is having problems scheduling the plebiscite to split his province into two because the Comelec is itself strapped for cash (and can’t even fund a Palace priority, the recall of Gov. Ed Panlilio), did so to invoke divine intercession.

As His Excellency Bishop Marquez piously declared, “we believe that through prayers, we can do everything.” If Bishop Marquez and Representative Suarez suddenly discover the funds have materialized for their cherished gerrymandering project for their province, why then, a miracle! Thank God!

Or Kilayko, who may be itching to help the economy by placing a new round of full-page pro-administration ads in the papers: surely she was praying for divine assistance in multiplying whatever pennies she may possess, so as to astound the multitude with pesos she can then spend for ad placements. A miracle!

But the naughty media reported that what really pushed the Black Mass project forward was unease over coup rumors. There was a “destabilization plot,” the huddled presidential faithful said, conveniently forgetting the President’s own favorite passage from scripture: “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” (it’s just as well, I suppose: because it brings up that old saying about the Devil quoting scripture). The whole problem is the cause of destabilization is the President and her people.

Prior to her midnight madness, the President huddled with her House majority to celebrate the Speaker’s birthday, during which they surely discussed the great priority at hand: amending the Constitution. Congress goes back to work today and the House has its marching orders. Today (or in the next few days), out of committee will be reported the resolution to amend the Constitution. The House has until Christmas break begins, to accomplish the second and third readings of the resolution. Once approved, it will be sent to the Senate which will reject it, providing the pretext for the House to bring it before the Supreme Court, asking it to instruct Congress to vote jointly on the measure.

Now if the Palace knows this, everyone else does: and this is the cause of the President, her pet prelates and congressional lapdogs storming Heaven with prayers.

Let’s assume the overwhelming majority of the citizenry are peace-loving, decent people who have no love for the President but an equally deep-rooted distrust of all of her opponents, in which case their solution to our national crisis is to hope and pray June 30, 2010 comes, when the President will have to step down from office. This possibly includes members of our armed forces who respect the Chief of Staff—one of the few generals, if the scuttlebutt is to be believed, who returned proffered cash gifts from the President—so deeply that they’ve committed to staying in their barracks so long as the President restricts her mischief to within the parameters established by the Constitution.

But everyone knows that Charter change is once more not just back on the table, but poised to be accomplished as the President continues to pack the Supreme Court with pliable appointees. In which case, the question confronting the entire country, civilian and military alike, is this: If 2010 is poised to bring more of the same and not an end to the Arroyo era, isn’t that a dangerously destabilizing thought?