“… (E)ven if those pushing for it turns multitude, that start of Roman Catholicism’s saint-making machine seems to go an uphill battle," the group said in its Web site Thursday night.

Aquino, the Philippines’ first woman president, had been acknowledged worldwide as an icon of democracy. She is known as one of the leaders of the EDSA People Power 1 Revolution in 1986, which ended the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and propelled her to power.

The CBCP explained that for someone to be canonized as saint, the Vatican must verify two miracles attributed the person.

Under Church doctrine, the CBCP said, the process of canonization begins with the authorization of a bishop to open an investigation on the concerned individual.

However, such a process may not take place less than five years after the person’s death, and the last step is when the Holy See canonizes the individual, thus entitling him or her own assigned feast day.

Arguelles acknowledged that the process is tedious. He cited the case of English statesman Saint Thomas More, who gained a reputation as a leading Renaissance humanist scholar and public official in the 16th century.

It was not until 2000 when the late Pope John Paul II declared More a Patron Saint of Politicians and Statesmen.

“In God’s own time, if God wants her to be a symbol for many people, e masasabi nating saint nga siya on her political life. Saint of people power sabi nga ng iba (In God’s own time, if God wants her to be a symbol for many people, we can consider her a saint in political life, perhaps the saint of People Power)," he said.

Still, he said that even if the Church will not support moves to declare Mrs. Aquino a saint, 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. -

She died on Saturday after more than a year battling colon cancer, and was buried on Wednesday beside her husband, former senator Benigno “Ninoy" Aquino Jr., at the Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque City.

Among those who want to see the “democracy icon" sainted is Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, who said if he were Pope, the Philippines’ 11th president would easily become Saint Corazon Aquino.

“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 Arguelles said in an interview over Church-run Radyo Veritas Thursday.

He said it was admirable for Mrs. Aquino to continuously profess her Catholic faith even while occupying the highest post in the land.

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