MANILA, Philippines -- Evangelist and presidential candidate Eduardo “Brother Eddie” Villanueva urged Filipinos to publicly show their condemnation of Acting Justice Secretary Alberto Agra's decision.

Agra on Friday issued a resolution clearing Governor Zaldy Ampatuan of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and his cousin, former acting Maguindanao vice governor Akmad Ampatuan Sr. of their complicity in the Nov. 23 massacre case.

Villanueva, the Bangon Pilipinas standard-bearer, described Agra's decision to reverse the findings of the panel of state prosecutors a “judicial sacrilege” and a “mass murder twice over” for the 57 people killed allegedly by leading members of the powerful Ampatuan clan and over 100 of their armed bodyguards.

“Bangon Pilipinas and I call on all good men and women of the land to arise in protest over the decision of Secretary Agra. It is the height of disrespect for the judicial system,” Villanueva said Tuesday.

He praised state prosecutors led by Chief State Prosecutor Claro Arellano and Assistant Chief State Prosecutor Richard Fadullon for coming forward to oppose their boss' decision.

Villanueva's running-mate Perfecto Yasay Jr., who is a lawyer, said Agra should have respected the findings of the first-line investigating prosecutors.

He joined calls on Agra to resign “if he has an iota of decency left.”