One Nation in Prayer, January 20, 2014

President Benigno S. Aquino III will lead a nation in prayer on January 20 for a “more progressive future,” Malacañang announced on January 12.

Presidential Communications Operations Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. encouraged the public to join the National Day of Prayer and Solidarity which will carry the theme “One Nation in Prayer.”

On January 20, 2014, President Benigno S. Aquino III will lead the Filipino people as one nation in prayer in remembrance of the lives lost to the tragedies of 2013. 

The event will be both a solemn commemoration of the tragedies of 2013 as well as a time of thanksgiving. Aired from Malacañan Palace, the President and other representatives of different faiths, government leaders, and stakeholders from civil society will lead the Filipino people as one nation in prayer, to draw strength and determination in order to press on with our collective hope for our country as one united people.

Months after the Zamboanga siege, Bohol and Cebu were rocked by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. A little less than a month after, the strongest typhoon in recorded history made landfall in Eastern Visayas, claiming thousands of lives and displacing entire communities. The tragic events of 2013 have been trying times for the Filipino people, testing resolve and determination for a stable, peaceful, and prosperous future.

The past Philippine Constitutions have always acknowledged the presence of a Divine Being. In the preambles of past Constitutions and the present-day 1987 Constitution, the following were implored in order to establish a government promoting general welfare, to conserve and develop the patrimony of the nation: the Sovereign Lawgiver of the Universe (the 1899 Malolos Constitution), Divine Providence (the 1935 to 1973 Constitutions), and Almighty God (the 1987 Constitution).

It is in light of this that the Presidents of the Philippines have, in the past, declared national days of thanksgiving, prayer, and remembrance.