Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) acknowledged Iglesia Ni Cristo’s (INC) demand to hold all corrupt officials accountable is legitimate. The group, however, wishes the INC would apply its call for accountability to its member, Senator Rodante Marcoleta.
BAYAN pointed out Marcoleta is facing graft and plunder may have broken election laws by admitting he received P75 million in so-called campaign donations from friends while sitting as a party list representative of the 19th Congress.
“Their condemnation of selective justice smacks of hypocrisy, since their motive is merely to preempt Marcoleta’s looming arrest,” BAYAN said.
INC playbook
INC spokesperson Edwil Zabala said on Tuesday the filing of plunder charges against Senator Rodante Marcoleta is a “distortion of law.”
“The Iglesia ni Cristo supports what Senator Marcoleta stands for because it is also our position. We call for transparency, accountability, justice, and peace,” Zabala said. “That is why we want the authorities to hear this: Even if they imprison Senator Marcoleta, we will not stop demanding justice for our fellow Filipinos who have been robbed,” he added.
BAYAN, however said the INC is distorting the clamor for justice by maliciously invoking it to negotiate concessions from the corrupt Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration.
In August 2015, the religious group forced Metro Manila into a four-day gridlock when the Benigno Aquino government announced investigations into an alleged kidnapping by INC leaders led by chief minister Eduardo Manalo.
Its rally ended when the government agreed to drop the investigations, quietly dropped several weeks later.
Corrupt dynasties as friends
BAYAN said that the INC leadership has consistently sided with notoriously corrupt dynasties, including the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. dictatorship and the ‘uniteam’ of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte in 2022.
Among the politicians endorsed and supported by the INC through its bloc voting practice were former presidents Rodrigo Duterte, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and Joseph Estrada who were all accused of massive corruption.
“INC appears to be critical in organizing an anti-corruption protest, but it is suspiciously silent about the corruption issues hounding the Dutertes,” BAYAN said.
Be real
The group called on Filipinos to be vigilant to prevent the INC protest from “undermining the anti-corruption advocacy.”
“The struggle for genuine accountability and justice should not be hostage to parochial and sectarian interests. Bayan enjoins the people to hold both the Marcos and Duterte blocs and their allied political dynasties accountable for the widespread corruption in the bureaucracy,” it said on Wednesday.
The group said the INC rally reflects not just the deep political crisis caused by the vicious infighting among the ranks of plunderers, as well as the bankrupt system dominated by corrupt political dynasties.
“Both factions are guilty of abusing their power to further enrich themselves and their cronies. We urge INC members to reject both sides and to condemn public officials who steal with impunity, even those who share their religious beliefs,” BAYAN said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)