Category: iglesia ni kristo

INC, ochoa, de lima

so, that edsa farce is over, with INC claiming victory and the palace claiming that the rule of law has been upheld.  win-win situation, say ng isang taga-iglesia sa tv news.  no-deal, say ng isang taga palasyo in a statement.

i’m trying to be optimistic.  at best, the palace is telling the truth.  no deal, the samson case will proceed (even if no one has said it in so many words), but INC is allowed to claim victory in public, thereby saving face.  kapanipaniwala ito because it was obvious sunday night that neither binay nor chizngrace (despite their quick expressions of support via media) were going to show up with their supporters to make it a multi-sectoral broad-coalition kind of protest that would qualify it as an EDSA and give INC some leverage in its demand that the DOJ drop the illegal detention case against its ruling council.  i mean, you know, pastor boy saycon?  who he?  he has no credibility or following that i know of; neither is he an EDSA 86 icon, as an iglesia tv anchor claimed.  as for peping and tingting, well, at least hindi na lang sila bumalik.

on the other hand, some pessimism about this no-deal eklat is not uncalled for, given this administration’s penchant for secrecy (as opposed to transparency), and given talk on facebook that executive secretary paquito ochoa is an iglesia member (google “paquito ochoa, iglesia” and you’ll get a pile of news reports about ochoa pushing for the appointment of this and that INC member to important posts), medyo kapani-paniwala rin ang speculation na DOJ sec de lima is not likely to move on the samson case.  and when she resigns next month to run for senator, ochoa (it is said) will be picking her replacement, who will likely be pro-iglesia, if not an iglesia member mismo, who will simply sit on the case, and leave it for the next admin to deal with.  this would mean that INC is likely to move heaven and earth, and hell maybe? to get a pro-iglesia president elected in 2016.

what nags at me is the illegal detention case filed by whistleblower benhur luy against PDAF scammer janet napoles that saw napoles sentenced to life imprisonment and, along with senators enrile, revilla, and estrada, indicted and charged with plunder.  i pray that this pasaway drama of INC re samson’s illegal detention complaint  does not impact on these plunder cases in any way.  nakakapraning, with enrile out on bail bigla and back in the senate.

de lima has time to get the samson case moving.  otherwise, who knows, winning a a senate seat might not be a piece of cake.

INC, rabble-rousing, in our faces

as if the traffic weren’t bad enough, or maybe that’s the point?  INC means to aggravate the situation, push to destablize, can’t wait for 2016, this illegal-detention-case has to be made to go away, now na?

the most appalling thing about it all is the lack of action on the part of the aquino government, as though it didn’t have the authority and the means to nip-in-the-bud protest actions of this disruptive kind, gayong we have seen them do it, time and again, to leftist groups who are almost always dispersed at once pag walang permit, or after a few hours, pag mayroong permit.

the latest from edsa/shaw according to INC TV is: patuloy na dinaragsa ang mapayapang pagtitpon ng mga kaanib sa iglesia ni cristo.  and i’ve heard some sincere rabble-rousing and offensive name-calling in the last hour.  meanwhile, nagpakita at naghayag na rin sina boy saycon at eid kabalu ng suporta, at nagpakita na rin si peping cojuangco, although kumaway lang siya from stage, hmm.

the moon is waxing full in pisces, culminating around 2:30 a.m. sunday.  emotions are high.  it’s going to be a long night.  will we see more politicos stepping up to express support, in aid of 2016?  will the crowd get bigger?  will they refuse to go home when their permit runs out tomorrow?  are they sleepless in the palace putting together, finally, a plan A, and a plan B?  i certainly hope so.  we need to see some decisive action from the authorities.

sabi nga ni walden bello:

A religious sect has Metro-Manila by the throat, and Poe, Binay, and Roxas are conciliating it. The government, always quick to act against the Left, has the authority to peacefully clear EDSA but it declines to exercise this authority, citing “respect for the right to protest.” Rights are relational. When the right to free speech is exercised to deliberately wreck public order and create chaos for the vast majority, then the government must place the welfare of that majority in command. The truth is this religio-fascist sect has the whole Philippine political system by the throat. Time to stand up to it and save our secular Republic. Time to say no to craven politicians who conciliate fundamentalist fanatics.

and to the INC, may i just say, mga kapatid, this is no way to do an EDSA 86, which (to be simplistic about it) was a most prayerful event.  no crass chants, no hi-tech stage, no political rabble-rousing.  what this is really is more like an edsa tres when you guys joined forces with erap’s urban poor constitutents, hoping to grab back the power lost to gloria in edsa dos, and failed.  i almost expect to see enrile and honasan, sotto and maceda, stepping up, with raised fists yet.  but wait, here comes tingting cojuangco.  argh.  excuse me while i throw up.

INC drama, street soap

The story goes: Today, some 200,000 members of the INC will mob the Department of Justice. Yes, a big crowd was there this afternoon – word is, they will stay on and on. They are protesting Justice Secretary de Lima’s “selective justice.”

The plot is: that more and more people will join that crowd and then a big push to EDSA takes place on Friday till Monday. Net25 on its Facebook page says members from 29 districts will be reinforcing their comrades starting tomorrow.

that’s from inday espina-varona’s blogpost yesterday.  about a plot to unseat the president in the long-run (yes, in the run-up to the 2016 elections) and, in the short-term, as in, now na, to demand insist importune that the department of justice respect the separation of church and state and desist from giving “special treatment” to expelled INC minister isaias samson who dares file an illegal detention complaint against INC’s top brass, i mean, ruling council.  unahin daw kasi ang mamasapano — sampahan ng kaso ang mga pumatay sa SAF 44, OR ELSE they will take it to edsa!  who is writing this script?  chiz escudero, is that you?

this morning the big news was the strafing of anthony taberna’s coffee shop in qc.  taberna is anchor of dzmm teleradyo’s dos por dos, with gerry baja, both INC members.  at first i didn’t connect it with the INC protest rally just because taberna had refused to comment on the issue from the start, which i took to mean that his sympathies lay with the INC leadership.  and then i saw inday’s fb status:

Attacks on Tunying’s cafe. He has been receiving many, many threats and very angry socmed messages from INC members loyal to leadership — because he kept quiet. I know some people have questions about Tunying… but it hasn’t been easy for him and Gerry this last month.

ah so.  complicating it is the fact that taberna and samson are blood relations pala, so his loyalty is under question.  the latest is, wala sina taberna at baja sa dos por dos today, and INC members are beginning to gather at the EDSA shrine sabay dumarami raw ang mga tao sa padre faura.  kahit saan nila gusto, puwede?  kahit gaano katagal, puwede?  iyan na mismo ang “special treatment.”

and, oh my, grace poe has chimed in, echoing chiz, of course.  aapir kaya sila sa rally?  abangan.

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INC protest is ‘bullying’, lawyers say

today’s iglesia event

even before MMDA announced suspension of classes tomorrow in metromanila, husband says he was advised by an iglesia friend to stay away from manila especially, the traffic will be humongous, hundreds of thousands of members expected to converge on quiapo for march to palace.  anti-pork?  would neither confirm nor deny.  interesting.  we will see soon enough kung ek nga lang ang medical mission press release.

that’s the status i posted on facebook last night when i heard the news of the metrowide suspension of classes in the face of a huge iglesia ni cristo event today, na medical-dental mission daw, probably an NCR version of recent events held in albay, tayabas, davao, and bulacan, dubbed evangelical mission: kabayan ko, kapatid ko.

read Iglesia mission draws biggest Bulacan crowd last september 14, reportedly two-thirds of the 3-million population of the province: that’s two million!

San Jose del Monte Mayor Rey San Pedro said he got on a helicopter for the first time to see for himself how many people came to the outreach.

People were coming from all over Bulacan, he reported, with many walking for kilometers to get to the New Town open grounds where the INC mission was held. He said traffic was barely moving as far as back as Sta. Maria and Marilao towns.

The sky was overcast and there was a slight intermittent drizzle, but the people were accommodated at the 26-hectare site under huge tents. Around 1,000 policemen were deployed to the area and the roads leading to the grounds.

The medical-dental mission started at 6:30 a.m. and lasted until noon. At 10 a.m., Alvarado announced that around 20,000 people had been given medical and dental help by the mission.

Great help to province

Free medicines were given out, along with vitamins for the young and the elderly. There were hospital beds for minor operations. At one end of the medical tent, makeshift cubicles were deluged by people wishing to see a dentist.

Bulacan Vice Gov. Daniel Fernando said the medical-dental mission was a great help to the province. After the program, bags of rice were distributed.

The “Kabayan Ko, Kapatid Ko” evangelical-medical mission in Bulacan was the 15th such event conducted by the Iglesia ni Cristo and its partner, the Felix Y. Manalo Foundation.

The weekly evangelical-medical outreach missions are being conducted in preparation for the INC Centennial on July 27, 2014, which will also be held in Bulacan, at the Philippine Arena which is being constructed in the town of Bocaue, organizers said.

hmm, saan-saan kaya sila pupuwesto kung tipong medical tents ang eksena?  alam ba ng mga maralitang tagalunsod na may ganitong magaganap at kung saan-saan?  nanliligaw ba sila ng non-iglesia voters?  sino kaya ang kandidato ng iglesia sa 2016?  ano kaya ang stand ng iglesia sa pork?  susuportahan ba ng iglesia ang sigaw ng bayan?  abangan.