“We speak in riddles,” Edwil Zabala, who currently acts as spokesperson of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), once said. He was referring to their habitual show of force at the Quirino Grandstand that he says are publicly understood as shows of support for politicians of the sect’s choice. He clarifies that these are actually religious rallies in nature.

Those riddles can also be statements of convenience. In the 2010 presidential elections, the INC’s endorsement had gone to candidate Manuel Villar. And then 5 days before the election, it suddenly switched its endorsement to candidate Benigno Aquino III. The reason: it was Aquino who was leading the surveys. That is the INC riddle — its endorsements apparently carry no weight. It has become nothing but hot air, fake news even, to prop up its image that it is the most powerful sect in Filipino society.

In February 2012, the sect held a “massive rally” (as the national dailies described it) attended by half a million people. It was meant as a show of support for then-Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona who was facing impeachment. The sect also staged smaller rallies outside the Supreme Court.

The Quirino Grandstand rally was dubbed as the “Grand Evangelical Mission,” said to be a “bible exposition.” The executive minister Eduardo Manalo was to lead the exposition. Aside from Metro Manila, 18 venues around the country also held “bible expositions.” The INC had also invited retired Catholic archbishop Oscar Cruz, a former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, to speak. Cruz declined: “I did not want my presence to be misinterpreted as the nature of the event was unclear.” 

Indeed, and as INC riddles go, a sect insider said the bible exposition was meant to serve as a message to then-president Benigno Aquino III and his allies that the INC was “not happy” with how the government was run. The INC was said to be piqued that Malacañang had tried to persuade former SC associate justice Serafin Cuevas to withdraw as Corona’s chief counsel in the impeachment court. 

Behind the scenes

It was said that Corona had particularly chosen Cuevas, a high-ranking INC member, to get the INC to protect his back. Did it work?

In May 2012, INC emissaries were reported to have been working behind the scenes to try and sway senator-judges to acquit Corona. The source came from the House of Representatives and even identified the INC emissaries: Dan Orosa, Resty Lazaro, Manny Cuevas and Victor Cheng. Orosa was a high-ranking INC official and Lazaro was an INC lawyer. Senators were said to have rejected the request for meetings, except for two — Juan Ponce Enrile and Jinggoy Estrada.

The INC arm-twisting failed. Of the 23 senator judges, 20 senators, including Ponce Enrile and Estrada, impeached Corona.

The popular belief is that the INC can make or unmake a candidate. It didn’t in the case of senator-judges who voted to convict Corona. In the subsequent elections in 2016, five re-electionist senators won: Franklin Drilon, Tito Sotto, Panfilo Lacson, Francis Pangilinan, and Ralph Recto. The only who lost reelection was Teofisto Guingona III. 

There were post-mortem revelations. In July 2015, an INC source said that, in fact the INC sanggunian had indeed flexed its muscles to pressure the senator judges, but in exchange for a favor: for a Supreme Court under Corona to be beholden and subservient to the INC. At that time the sect had numerous pending cases in the SC. “The INC does no political favors for free,” that there is always payback time, the source said. 

Hence, whenever there are issues of political interest to the INC, the norm is always a public rally. In August 2015, there was a rally at Edsa-Shaw intersection that started as a march from the Department of Justice. Its aim was to protest the “meddling” of then-justice Secretary Leila de Lima who, the INC alleged, gave special treatment to its former minister Isaias Samson Jr. Samson had accused the sect of serious illegal detention and grave concern.

Smokescreen?

It was during this time when news reports came out that the INC actually had a heavily armed private army. This was related to the leaks about the power struggle within the Manalo family between Eduardo Manalo versus his mother and siblings. Sometime July 2015, Cristina Villanueva Manalo, the widowed mother of Eduardo, and the rest of her children, were expelled from the INC. Eduardo approved the expulsion. 

And so another riddle: was the object of the rallies to pressure De Lima or to create a smokescreen to the Manalo family feud? In November, the DOJ dropped the charges against the sect’s leaders re the Samson case. That was 2015. Less than a year later, in the elections of May 9, 2016, De Lima entered the Magic 12 of winning senatorial candidates. Where was the weight of the INC if it truly vilified De Lima? 

Since 1992, not all candidates for president that the INC had endorsed won. In 1992, INC-endorsed Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. placed only third with a mere 18.2% of the votes. It, however, won its endorsements in 1998 for Joseph Estrada, 2004 for Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, 2016 for Rodrigo Duterte, and 2022 for Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

But all of these candidates had also led the pre-election surveys. They were already leading even without the INC endorsement. Had the surveys shown another candidate, the INC would have shifted endorsements, as it did for Aquino in 2010.

The best displays of myth are the electoral performances of SAGIP party list and congressman Rodante Marcoleta. SAGIP, or Social Amelioration and Genuine Intervention on Poverty, is closely identified with the INC.

If the INC can truly dictate to all its sect members its political choices, why is it that in the 2013 elections, SAGIP only got 287,739 votes or 1 seat in the House? Where are the millions of INC members? It likewise won only single seats in 2016 (397,064 votes) and in 2019 (257, 313 votes).

Regarding Marcoleta

2016 was the election year that INC member Rodante Marcoleta won the SAGIP party list seat. Marcoleta then set his sights on the senate for the 2022 elections. Twelve days prior to the elections, he withdrew, citing his poor showing in the surveys. He was hyped as the “first pick” of the Marcos-Duterte Unity Team ticket, but he fared only 24^th to 30^th in survey rankings. Where was the INC might?

Or was Marcoleta simply a bad example for the sect? Marcoleta espoused causes that made him unpopular at a number greater than his INC support. He is known as the ABS CBN franchise killer and for introducing the motion in 2017 to slash the budget of the Commission on Human Rights to a mere P1,000.

In the present senatorial race for the May 2025 elections, Marcoleta trails at 39^th to 48^th place in pre-election surveys of both the Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia (September 2024). It is absolutely certain that Marcoleta will lose his senate run.

Simply put, there is no such thing as “vox populi, vox dei” from the Iglesia ni Cristo. Evidence has shown that it is just a carefully curated public perception that it has clout and influence. In truth, it appears to be only a false façade. It scares political candidates and as anecdotal stories go, urges them to dip into their pockets in exchange for an endorsement, per tattle tales.

The present congressmen of the House of Representatives should impeach Sara Duterte as vice president. If we go by this scientific evidence, they have nothing to fear. It is time to demolish the myth of an INC backlash. There is no such thing. – Rappler.com