Iglesia ni Cristo members packing up, going home

INC members have started dispersing after their leaders announced a successful mass action. TETCH TORRES-TUPAS/INQUIRER.net

Iglesia ni Cristo protesters began to disperse peacefully Monday morning at the corner of Edsa and Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City after nearly four days of rallies that began at the Department of Justice in Manila last Thursday.

Some speakers went up the stage to thank members for their cooperation with the assembly, and asked them to leave the area peacefully after collecting the trash.

Iglesia members gathered on Edsa cheered when INC General Evangelist Bienvenido Santiago came on their television channel Net 25 and announced the conclusion of talks between the sect’s leadership with government officials.

INC spokesperson Edwil Zabala said INC members were “very glad’’ of the announcement and said the five-day “peaceful assembly’’ showed the strong unity among the members.

Both lanes of Edsa underpass intersecting Shaw Boulevard have been opened to vehicles.

Members of the sect trooped to Edsa to protest the alleged meddling of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima in their church’s affairs after the secretary received the complaint of a former INC minister who complained of illegal detention by the group’s leadership. RLA/CB