Show of force

It is hard to believe either the Palace or the Supreme Court about the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) rally held in Manila, Cebu and other parts of the country last Tuesday.

The only ones who can explain what the mammoth, synchronized rallies were all about are the INC leaders.

Based on their statements, it was nothing but a religious, spiritual gathering where anyone was invited.

The worship session was a traffic stopper to say the least. In Cebu City, at least 20,000 gathered in Fuente Osmeña circle, a solemn, well-behaved bunch from the city and other parts of the province.

In Manila, crowd estimates were placed in the thousands and tens of thousands, the kind of gathering any politician would salivate over.

But it was a purely religious gathering, they insist.

In Cebu City, local INC leaders didn’t grant any interviews. Only members made their comments and they followed the official line: the gathering wasn’t political and there were no posters of Chief Justice Renato Corona to indicate otherwise.

The timing, however, was still suspicious and it didn’t help any that both the Palace and Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez gave their respective views on the gathering.

The Palace was clearly on the defensive when they said the gathering was apolitical while Marquez said the INC gathering showed their silent support for Corona’s acquittal.

The gathering also seemed to pressure the already embattled prosecution to rest their case. It inspired the now infamous outburst of Sen. Miriam Santiago that provoked one lawyer to cover his ears.

The INC show of force also showed that even with their numbers, they remain sensitive to public opinion. When the Inquirer came out with the story about lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas claiming that the Aquino administration tried to buy him out of the case, the INC was quick to crack down on the former justice, a certified INC member.

The Aquino administration can’t afford to antagonize the INC that has continued to support the Reproductive Health (RH) bill, which the Catholic Church vigorously opposes.

Which only goes to show that public opinion remains an effective barometer, a leveling mechanism that the impeachment court is all too quick to recognize and as in Santiago’s case, eventually resent. How else can one explain the honorable senator’s averse reaction to a University of the Philippines survey showing that UP students don’t trust the Chief Justice?

The end of the impeachment process is still a long way off.

But midway through it, there is growing interest and action towards influencing the Senate impeachment court. The public isn’t lacking venues to register their voice about the proceedings and so should make themselves heard above the growing din of pro-Corona forces.