DAY THREE A protester waves the Iglesia ni Cristo banner during the INC rally at the Edsa-Shaw intersection to demand the resignation of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, whom the sect accuses of meddling in its internal affairs by investigating charges of kidnapping and illegal detention filed by a former INC minister against members of the group’s governing council. An INC source claims they expect a million to turn up by Monday. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
President Benigno Aquino III has directed government officials not to allow certain people to use the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) protest on Edsa for their own political interests, Malacañang said Saturday.
“The President mentioned specifically that [the] government should ensure—at least, the executive branch— that there are no opportunities for those who may want to take advantage of the situation for their personal end,” Valte said over Radyo ng Bayan.
Interior Secretary Mar Roxas on Saturday confirmed he had received reports that vested interests were trying to inflame the INC protesters massed on Edsa.
Roxas declined further comment, referring the Inquirer to the Philippine National Police.
Chief Supt. Joel Pagdilao, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, said people who were not Iglesia were seen at the rally of the politically influential INC on Edsa on Friday night.
Pagdilao, however, played down reports that those people tried to stir passions at the INC rally against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s alleged handling of a criminal complaint against members of the sect’s governing council.
Binay allies
Former Tarlac Rep. Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, his wife, Tarlac Gov. Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, and Council of Philippine Affairs (Copa) head Pastor Saycon were seen at the rally late on Friday. The Cojuangcos and Saycon were also at the rally on Saturday.
The Cojuangcos and Saycon are known supporters of Vice President Jejomar Binay, the opposition’s presidential candidate in next year’s national elections.
The INC protest against Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s handling of a criminal complaint filed by an expelled INC minister against members of the sect’s governing council went into a third day on Saturday after the group obtained a rally permit from the Mandaluyong City government.
Pagdilao estimated the crowd at the intersection of Edsa and Shaw Boulevard at 2,000.
But INC leaders claimed 8,000 came to the rally on Saturday, including students from the INC College of Evangelical Ministry in Quezon City.
One million expected
They said they expected participation in the protest to hit 1 million people, with more INC members coming to Manila from the Bicol region, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Zambales, Batangas and Pangasinan provinces.
There were no reports of untoward incidents on Saturday.
Traffic on Edsa was easier on Saturday with the underpass at the intersection unblocked by protesters.
The protesters withdrew from the Edsa Shrine on Ortigas Avenue and concentrated their forces at the Edsa-Shaw Crossing.
They became more organized than on Friday night, erecting a stage and setting up a sound system, with large streamers bearing their slogans as backdrop.
The protesters also installed first-aid tents and portable toilets.
A police desk was also set up on Shaw, with the stage within sight of the police.
Valte said President Aquino directed Roxas to meet with officials of Quezon City and Mandaluyong City—both are affected by the INC rally—and police officials to find a “way forward.”
She said the meeting was finished Friday and an action plan was expected.
Mr. Aquino also gave instructions to ensure public safety, especially of people not involved in the INC protest, Valte said.
“The President’s instructions were to ensure the safety of the public, including … not just those who are involved in the protest but more importantly, those who are uninvolved in the protest—meaning the greater population who pass through that entire thoroughfare,” she said.
She said the President’s view was that freedom, including freedom of expression, was accompanied by responsibility.
The President was reminding people exercising their rights to respect also the rights of others, including those looking forward to a long, quiet, and peaceful payday weekend, Valte said.
De Lima defended
Valte also defended De Lima, saying the justice secretary just accepted the complaint filed by expelled INC minister Isaias Samson Jr.
De Lima has not yet acted on the complaint, which makes the Palace wonder what the INC is complaining about, Valte said.
“The DOJ (Department of Justice) has yet to take action on this … No step has been taken. So we do not know what is being said as, or is being construed as, harassment,” she said.
The DOJ follows a process in the filing of complaints regardless of who files a complaint, Valte said. That process will be followed in handling the complaint of Samson, she said.
Prosecutor General Claro Arellano confirmed on Saturday night that the complaint had yet to be forwarded to an investigating state prosecutor.
“[The] case has not been assigned to a prosecutor yet,” Arellano said in a text message to the Inquirer.
Valte said De Lima was not cowed by the INC mass action. The justice chief is someone who “has established herself as one who does her job,” she said.
Pacified only if…
INC spokesperson Edwil Zabala said the church members would be pacified only if De Lima would show fairness in handling Samson’s complaint.
“What will pacify or stop our members from venting out their emotion is when Secretary De Lima speaks up and show concrete action that she is willing to correct what for us is an obvious error in the process of how the cases were filed,” Zabala said in a television interview on Saturday.
The INC is questioning the “extraordinary attention” that De Lima gave to the complaint.
“For us this directly deprives us of our freedom to practice our faith, which we have been doing for over 100 years now. We’ve not done any damage to the society. We’re just wondering why she is now using her authority to deprive us. She should show us that she is implementing the law fairly and without bias,” Zabala said.
Doctrine of separation
“We are only exercising our constitutionally guaranteed freedom to peaceably gather and assemble to seek redress, especially for something perceived to be wrong. [If De Lima] only followed the rules in terms of filing the case, this could have been prevented,” he said.
The INC is invoking the separation of church and state in protesting the DOJ’s accepting the complaint.
But the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) said on Saturday that the DOJ did not violate the doctrine by accepting the complaint.
In a text message sent to the media, CHR Chair Jose Luis Martin Gascon explained that “separation of church and state does not arise at all” in the controversy.
“This a matter involving the proper exercise of powers by the justice department, involving an investigation of a case that may involve violation of law that exempts no one,” Gascon said.
He explained that the doctrine of separation only ensures that “the state does not favor any particular religion” and that “every person is able to believe and practice faith.”
“On matters of criminal law, the justice system must be allowed to take its due course no matter who may be the perpetrators involved otherwise people will ultimately be taking the law or interpretation thereof upon themselves, which would undermine it,” Gascon said.
Zabala said the INC was invoking separation because “we feel it’s no longer completely followed, at least, in our experience.”
“[For 101 years], we follow, subject ourselves to the rules of the law, except when those laws contradict the rules of God that we swore to uphold and are clearly recorded in the Bible,” he said.
To maintain peace, order
Despite its possible repercussion on his presidential candidacy, Roxas said legal processes must be observed in dealing with the issue between the INC and the DOJ.
Roxas, who was chosen by the President as the ruling Liberal Party’s standard-bearer, admitted that dealing with the matter was a difficult task, but he expressed confidence that even INC members would choose to maintain peace and order.
“We’re trying to deal with this calmly and do our job properly,” Roxas said in a news briefing at Camp Crame.
“Our task is to maintain order and protect the general welfare of all residents of Metro Manila,” he added.
Roxas said the government had been in touch with INC leaders at “various levels,” but did not state how the Aquino administration was treating the mass action apparently aimed at pressuring De Lima to dismiss the case against the INC leaders.
He presided over a hastily called meeting in Camp Crame with PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez, Metro Manila Development Authority chair Francis Tolentino, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Mandaluyong City Mayor Benhur Abalos and other police officials.
During the meeting, Roxas reminded the local and police officials that the welfare of the general public should be protected while ensuring the safety of those participating in the INC protest.
Roxas also maintained that the flow of traffic along Edsa, the metropolis’ main thoroughfare, should not be hampered by the protest.
He said police personnel with bomb-sniffing dogs would be deployed to protect the INC protesters from those who might sabotage the rally.
Permit granted
The INC obtained a permit for the rally from the Mandaluyong City government on Saturday and sect leaders promised a bigger crowd today.
The permit is good only up to Sunday, but organizers said the rally would last up to Monday.
READ: Mandaluyong allows Iglesia ni Cristo to continue rally until Sunday
In a talk with reporters on Saturday, Zabala said he could not say how long the protest would run, as “permits are usually issued day by day.”
Zabala said the protest moved to Edsa from the DOJ because some INC members had difficulty going to Padre Faura Street, where the protest began on Thursday.
Zabala appealed for public understanding, saying the INC did not want matters to reach this point but it felt that it had to take action.
An INC source who requested not to be identified for lack of authority to talk to the press said the instruction to members from the leadership was to show up at Edsa on Sunday.
The source said there were fewer INC members at the rally on Saturday because it was worship day. There will also be fewer participants today, Sunday also being worship day, the source said.
“The biggest crowd will come on Monday, it being a holiday, following the [instruction],” the source said.
An INC member in Lucena City said on Saturday that “hundreds” of church members from Quezon and the Bicol region would leave for Manila today after worshiping to join the Edsa rally.
READ: INC members from Lucena, Bicol to join brethren in Edsa rally
The source said INC members from Albay province and the towns of Pilar, Donsol and Castilla in Sorsogon province would leave this afternoon for Manila to support church members already on Edsa.
Asked why he was joining the protest, the INC member from Lucena replied: “I’m a loyal soldier. I have an obligation to defend my church.”
Rally permit
Mandaluyong Mayor Benhur Abalos Jr. said “all hell broke [loose]” at the Edsa-Shaw Boulevard on Friday night when the INC protesters occupied the intersection.
He said he authorized the rally permit for Saturday and Sunday with instruction to “confine” the rally to that spot to prevent the protest from spilling over to other parts of the city.
Abalos identified the INC official who came to him for a rally permit as Eraño Codera, a member of the sect’s governing council.
Abalos appealed for public understanding, saying the permit at least “set parameters” for the INC rally.
Pagdilao said the police would remain “on full alert.” Erika Sauler and Jaymee T. Gamil, Leila B. Salaverria, Marlon Ramos, With reports from Tina G. Santos, Nancy C. Carvajal, Tarra Quismundo and Jodee A. Agoncillo in Manila, and Delfin t. Mallari Jr. and Mar S. Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon
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