Tree Cory planted in Chinese village 'foretold' PNoy presidency

Planted by the late former President Corazon "Cory" Aquino, a 23-year-old tree in the Cojuangcos’ ancestral Chinese village is said to have foretold her son’s ascent to the presidency, GMA News’ 24 Oras reported over the weekend. In 1988, Cory planted an auracaria tree, an evergreen variety, in Hongjian village in China’s Fujian province, the 24 Oras Saturday newscast said. The auracaria is supposed to grow with a single trunk, but the one that Cory planted developed two – an indication of things to come, according to villagers. For Hongjian natives, this means whatever success the one who planted the tree has achieved will be equaled by an offspring, the television report said.
Thus, even before President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III won the presidency, natives in the Cojuangcos’ ancestral village knew that another Aquino is likely to return to Hongjian to bring them honor, said the report. Noynoy visited Hongjian towards the end of his five-day state visit to China. He returned to the Philippines Saturday evening. 'Not a prophecy' In his visit to Hongjian, the younger Aquino also planted a tree as his mother did 23 years ago. However, during his speech there, he stressed that his election to the presidency did not happen because of a prophecy but of the will of the Filipino people. “Nature has its own laws, and surely this natural phenomenon was not a prophecy for I never aspired to reach the same heights and achieve the same success as my mother," Aquino said in his speech at Hongjian. “And yet, by the will of my people, I stand here in the same position she occupied as president of the Philippines, bearing the same responsibility she had to change people’s lives for the better," he said. Fujian province is home to around 85 percent of the Filipino-Chinese, said the report. — Paterno Esmaquel II/LBG, GMA News