20,000 INC faithful show up at Fuente for religious meet

Thousands of  Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) faithful converged at the Fuente Osmena Circle for their Grand Evangelical Missions yesterday afternoon snarling traffic in nearby areas.

There was no politics discussed and the gathering was purely a religious affair of INC faithful.

Edmund Padilla, INC district leader from Cebu South, and other district leaders took turns discussing the congregation’s faith and religiosity based on the teachings of the Bible during the two-hour gathering attended by members of the religious group in Cebu.

The grand evangelical mission was held simultaneously nationwide by INC.

No politics was discussed. No posters of Chief Justice Renato Corona, who claimed of the influential INC support in the impeachment trial.

However, local INC officials were mum about the issue and didn’t grant any interviews for the media.

One of the members, who refused to be named, said that they didn’t want the gathering to be politicized as it was a “purely religious event.”

Cebu City Police Chief Melvin Buenafe, who fielded 135 policemen to secure the gathering, estimated

the crowd at about 20,000.

The gathering snarled traffic in some nearby areas as most of the 250 buses transporting the participants of the event parked along the road.

Buenafe said there were also 50 enforcers to man the traffic and a firetruck and ambulance was put on standby for any emergency.

Traffic was heavy in Mango Avenue while the area from Jones Avenue to Downtown areas of the city had light to moderate traffic at the time of the event, said  Rafael Yap, Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) executive director.

Yap said the buses weren’t supposed to park along the roads.

“The Iglesia Ni Cristo has been holding such gatherings in various places on a regular basis since the time of its first Executive Minister, Brother Felix Y. Manalo who established the INC’s first congregation in the Philippines in 1914,” said INC spokesman Bienvenido Santiago in a statement.

“This religious activity is one of the means by which the Church propagates the teachings of God in the Bible that members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo believe to be essential for man’s salvation.”

The grand evangelical mission also invites other religious order to listen to the teachings of the INC and is open for all.

Santiago said similar grand evangelical missions have been conducted, one at the Quezon Memorial Circle in 1995 and another at the Amoranto Stadium in 1996.

The biggest celebration was held in the Quirino Grandstandin Manila, while 19 venues simultaneously gathered yesterday.

Santiago said the gathering was joined by INC members from its 4,374 local congregations nationwide./Reporter Candeze R. Mongaya with a report from Correspondent Chito O. Aragon