Iglesia ni Cristo Templo Central in Quezon City —Inquirer photo
MANILA, Philippines — The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) will proceed with its “National Rally for Peace” on Jan. 13 at Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, expecting to draw in thousands of its members as well as groups who share the Christian sect’s cause coming from Metro Manila and the nearby regions of Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon) and Central Luzon.
INC-led rallies of the same cause will also be conducted simultaneously in different cities across the country, such as in Legazpi (Albay), Ilagan (Isabela), and Puerto Princesa (Palawan) in Luzon; Cebu, Iloilo, and Bacolod (Negros Occidental) in the Visayas; and Davao, Pagadian (Zamboanga del Sur), Butuan (Agusan del Norte), and Cagayan de Oro (Misamis Oriental) in Mindanao.
The event was organized by INC as its expression of support for the stance of President Marcos opposing the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
READ: INC rallies in support of Marcos stand against VP Duterte impeach moves
In their “Sa Ganang Mamamayang” program aired on NET25, INC’s broadcast network, on Monday, cohosts Gen Subardiaga and Nelson Lubao disclosed that the event was supposed to be done at the much bigger Quirino Grandstand to accommodate the expected volume of participants.
The National Parks Development Committee (NPDC), an agency under the Department of Tourism that oversees the grandstand, however, denied INC’s request.
“Please be informed that the Quirino Grandstand is not available on Jan. 13, 2025, because of a prior event,” said Subardiaga, reading a portion of the letter response of the NPDC.
The Inquirer contacted NPDC executive director Cecille Lorenzana-Romero for comment, but she had yet to respond at press time.
No big event is scheduled on Jan. 13 at Quirino Grandstand, based on NPDC’s social media account. But there is a monthly “Stop and Salute Flag Raising Ceremony” set on that date at the nearby Rizal Park.
Estimates based on Mapchecking, an online crowd-counting tool, show that Liwasang Bonifacio, including areas of the nearby Manila Hidden Garden which is maintained by the city government, can accommodate around 20,000 people. Meanwhile, Quirino Grandstand, including Burnham Green, can accommodate a packed crowd of 500,000.
‘Cause for peace’
The hosts apologized in advance for the inconvenience the INC-led rally would cause to the public.
“We actually want to do the rally for peace in Quirino Grandstand to cause less disturbance and not cause heavy traffic,” Subardiaga said in their program. “Please do not have hard feelings or get angry at us if the area [around Liwasang Bonifacio] becomes filled with people and vehicles and cause[s] heavy traffic.”
According to the hosts, non-INC members may join the rally “but you should follow the rules and share our cause for peace.” They said some outside of their religious group already expressed their support and would attend the events.
“People who will call for the resignation or impeachment of our officials will not be allowed. How will we achieve peace if we are not united and are sowing disagreement?” Lubao said.
“If you have other goals, do not join us. You can schedule another rally on another day,” Subardiaga added.
They also “corrected” posts on social media claiming that the rally was against “injustice” being faced by the Duterte family. “This is purely for peace,” they said.
The INC rallies will purportedly support the President’s statement in December shunning plans to support the impeachment of Duterte following her bitter breakup with the administration and her shocking disclosure that she had arranged the assassination of Marcos, the first lady, and Speaker Martin Romualdez should an alleged plot to kill her succeed.
Marcos called on his supporters in Congress to drop any plan to impeach Duterte, as this would distract both the House and the Senate from their more urgent work.
“This is not important. This does not make any difference to even one single Filipino life. So, why waste time on this?” Marcos had said.
Three impeachment complaints against Duterte had been filed by civil society members and endorsed by minority lawmakers in the House of Representatives last month. A fourth impeachment, coming from the House majority members, is set to be filed next week.
Known for the “bloc voting” power of its members, INC openly supported the “UniTeam” of Marcos and Duterte during the 2022 elections. The tandem won by a landslide.
With 2.8 million members, INC is the third-largest religious group in the country, according to the government census in 2020. Roman Catholics predominate with over 85 million, followed by nearly 7 million Muslims.