‘INC meeting was on judicial reform’

Senator Grace Poe. Photo by Jay Morales

SEN. GRACE Poe said she discussed her program of judicial reform with the political affairs chief of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) last week but she did not expressly ask for the sect’s endorsement.

The presidential candidate said her courtesy call was part of her campaign to reach out to as many organizations as possible to discuss her platform of governance.

Poe met with INC political affairs chief Eraño Codera on Wednesday.

“It would be disingenuous to say that you don’t pay courtesy calls in various areas. I did this voluntarily. Specially for an independent candidate like me, you would need to share your platform, and whoever would express support, thank you,” she told reporters late Saturday night.

“But it is clear to me that while I am thankful for any support, there will be equal treatment for all,” she added.

According to her, she and Codera did not discuss the pending cases against INC leaders and allegations of harassment concerning the church. What they discussed was how people should be treated equally under the law, she said.

“What we talked about was how under my government, there would be equal treatment under the law, whether you are rich, and especially if you are poor. You should have proper representation,” she said.

They also discussed reforms in the judiciary, as well as the need for more lawyers in the Public Attorney’s Office and for the proper handling of case documents and evidence, she said.

Poe was earlier criticized when she said INC members were just defending their faith when they held mass protests recently against the Department of Justice’s handling of an illegal detention case against a church leader. The INC rallies snarled traffic in Manila and along Edsa for four days.

As for the presence of Mike Defensor, a former member of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s Cabinet, Poe said he was already at the INC office when she arrived.

It was just coincidence that their visits to the INC took place at the same time. There were also other politicians in the waiting area, she said, although she declined to name them.

On Friday, she said Defensor’s association with the previous administration was “incompatible with my crusade for transparent governance and electoral reform.”

Politicians regularly troop to the INC to seek the support of the religious organization, whose two million voters are instructed to vote as a bloc based on the advice of the church’s top leaders.