Angel Manalo names ‘corrupt’ INC execs
Felix Nathaniel “Angel” Villanueva Manalo speaking to the media after denying hostage reports. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Two top leaders of the Iglesia ni Cristo were accused of corruption by the brother of executive minister Eduardo Manalo as the crisis in the indigenous Christian sect entered its fourth day on Monday.
Angel Manalo, one of the three Manalo siblings who was expelled from the church together with their mother, named Glicerio Santos Jr., auditor of the INC, and Radek Cortez, a member of the INC’s 12-member Sanggunian (advisory council), as the two church officials responsible for financial wrongdoing.
“They kept on asking for more and more contributions when the church members could not afford to give anymore. They put the money in projects that had nothing to do with religion,” Angel said, speaking to reporters on Monday at the gate of the Manalo family compound in Tandang Sora, Quezon City, where he and the other expelled family members had been holed up since Wednesday.
He said the crisis in the INC would only be resolved when his brother, the executive minister, talks to his mother and his siblings.
Manalo called for a face-to-face talk with his brother Eduardo to resolve church issues.
“I’m calling on Ka Eduardo Manalo, the executive minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo, to please grant their (the siblings’) request to personally speak to him together with their mother so they can resolve the crisis in the church,” he said.
Interviewed by GMA television’s “Quick Response Team,” Angel said that one of the things he wanted to discuss with his brother was the “corruption inside the INC.”
Angel accused the indigenous Christian sect’s Sanggunian of being behind the allegedly corrupt activities within the church. He said that one of the church’s anomalous projects was the construction of the $200-million, 55,000-seat Philippine Arena in Santa Maria, Bulacan.
He said that in the next few days, he would be releasing evidence to support his allegations of corruption in the INC.
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