A Show of Force

Today, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) held a national rally "for peace". For those who don't know, the INC is an independent non-trinitarian Christian church and they're a pretty big deal here in the Philippines. 

The INC insisted that the rallies were not at all political but moral, which means it was definitely political. Who the hell calls for "unity" during an election season, a time when lines are drawn?

The rallies were simply a show of force. What other group can force Imperial Manila to declare a local holiday just because of all the traffic their event would cause? It was estimated that more than a million ballots showed up in Manila. The pictures showed a sea of ballots wearing white, flooding the streets and filling the Quirino Grandstand. This isn't even counting the ballots that held their own rally in my city. While not as dramatic as one Manila, it was reason enough for work to be called off early.

The INC has its detractors, the most fervent of which denounce it as a cult. The INC denounces the trinity, believes their founder was God's last prophet, and other boring run-of-the-mill "we know better than the Pope" stuff. Churches like these are a dime a dozen but the difference with the INC is that they're smart. To survive in a predominantly Roman Catholic country, they've had to play the political game and they play it very well.

I don't hate them. To be frank, I admire them in a political sense. I find it ironic that in a dysfunctional democracy like ours, it's only this group of weirdos that's doing things correctly. The INC is an excellent political party regardless of how one feels about their beliefs.

Critics who decry the INC's tactics of bloc voting are just salty. Why wouldn't members of the INC vote for whoever their leader tells them to? That's how political organizations in a democracy work. That they're a religious group is irrelevant. People are free to band together for any cause. In this case, I assume that the INC's cause is, at its simplest, freedom to conduct its business without interference from the government. Is it up to something nefarious? Who knows? Who cares? Everyone is up to something nefarious.

If people were smart, they'd follow the INC's example and band together to form their own voting blocs. That's how you get political power. Sadly, the most people can muster is their own local interests. Barangay Kamunggay will vote for whoever can promise something good for Barangay Kamunggay. At worst, people vote at the smallest level. They vote for whoever can provide for their family or (gasp) their individual selves.

Imagine if Filipinos got together based on an idea and formed a voting bloc to elect people supporting that idea. Crazy. Not in a low-trust society. This is what communists should be doing but instead of doing the groundwork, they'd rather hide in the jungle and pretend the eighties never ended.

The INC's "second resurrection" has a higher chance of happening than Filipinos learning to organize themselves to be a persistent threat to the system.

Church and State

They're still talking about that huge rally the Iglesia ni Cristo had in EDSA. The traffic jam was one for the ages. Traffic seems to be the only thing people in Manila ever talk about. From street traffic to foot traffic to congestion on the rail system...

Gotta hand it to the INC, they sure know how to twist the screws but how did it come to this?

To those not in the know, I'll summarize. The INC is a powerful homegrown religious sect known for its habit of bloc voting. Since the INC's members are very obedient to their church leaders, whoever courts the INC's favor is guaranteed a chunk of votes. As a result, the INC is powerful and government officials are reluctant to step on their toes.

Recently, certain problems within the INC's leadership became public. Some of its ministers were allegedly detained illegally. The facts are murky but from whatever little one can gather, it seems some of its leaders didn't agree with the group spending a large amount of money building some megachurch or something somewhere.

The government decided to investigate the alleged illegal detention and here we are. The INC is throwing a fit claiming that it's being unfairly targeted. The INC decided to hold a rally in one of the busiest thoroughfares of Manila, a move no doubt calculated to piss as many people off as possible.

It is quite ironic that one of the rallying cries of the INC was the call for the government to respect the "separation of church and state". It's quite hypocritical for a group that doesn't hesitate to use it's influence on the government, to champion such a principle. Anyway, separation of church and state... The constitution mentions it but doesn't explain exactly what it is. Case law explains that our understanding of separation of church and state comes from American jurisprudence. The details are lengthy, but it boils down to two things: the state cannot establish its own religion and the state cannot prohibit the free exercise thereof.

I fail to see the logic behind INC's complaints. How is the government investigating a crime a violation of church and state? Is it somehow depriving their free exercise of religion? Does that mean kidnapping is a sacred ritual for the INC?

Nah, it's simple. It's all political as usual. I'm disgusted at such a brazen show of force by the INC. Usually, their mass actions and political muscle flexing have a thin veneer of legitimacy to them such as celebrating the anniversary of their founding or some other significant event. What happened over the weekend was a naked power play; there was nothing noble about it. The INC claims it worked out a deal with the government. The government swiftly denied such claim but the whole thing stinks like a rotting rat corpse already. Nothing new here, just the government conspiring against the people as usual.

Glad I don't live in Manila.