DOJ backs Iglesia ni Cristo holiday

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima: No objection. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–The Department of Justice (DOJ) sees no impediment to a resolution passed by both houses of Congress declaring July 27 a “special nonworking holiday” to commemorate the centennial of the Iglesia ni Cristo.

“The department manifests no constitutional or legal objection to the aforesaid resolution. The resolution was passed and approved in anticipation and preparation of INC’s historic centennial year to commemorate the establishment of the church in the Philippines on July 27, 1914,” Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said in a letter to deputy executive secretary for legal affairs Michael Aguinaldo.

Copies of the letter were released to the media on Tuesday by the DOJ.

The resolution, which the House passed in May, followed by the Senate in June, described the INC as the “largest entirely indigenous Christian church in the Philippines” and the “largest independent Christian church in Asia.”

The lawmakers said INC followers would be gathering all over the country and the world to commemorate the centenary. The church will hold its main centennial assembly in Bocaue, Bulacan, on July 27.

De Lima noted the DOJ also did not pose an objection to an earlier House resolution declaring 2014 “Iglesia ni Cristo Centennial Year.”

The secretary, however, pointed out July 27 was a Sunday, a regular day off for most workers and employees.