I went to the Philippine General Hospital in Manila a few days ago to visit a sick relative. I had to park my car so far away because the road had become impassable. Iglesia Ni Cristo rallyists were occupying many streets nearby during their protest in front of the Department of Justice in Padre Faura, Manila. They were denouncing the DOJ for investigating abduction/illegal detention charges filed by a prominent INC member and his family against their own religious leaders who had pounced on them Nazi-style! I was so disgusted!
Lawyers and politicians alike virtually locked arms with the rowdy rallyists in their tirades against the DOJ for violating, kuno, the constitutional injunction of “separation of church and state”! They were one in saying the problem was “internal” to INC; it was just a family squabble the government had no business meddling in. Susmaryosep! And for that lame excuse, motorists who had urgent business to do in that area had to suffer more, as though they weren’t miserable enough with horrible traffic everywhere else.
Have those people become brain-dead and turned into mindless zombies doing everything their leaders tell them to do, without question? The lawyers in the group, including Ferdinand Topacio, et al., and Sen. Chiz Escudero (and yes, Sen. Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay, too!), couldn’t have looked more imbecilic and pathetic.
Just think about it: When the INC filed a complaint against American singer Chris Brown, the DOJ quickly acted and prevented the latter’s departure for five days last July. The INC praised the DOJ for its quick response to its criminal charge of estafa. Now that the DOJ also responded quickly to criminal charges of illegal detention against its religious leaders, the INC accuses it of undue interference with its “internal affairs”!
Illegal detention is a serious criminal charge that may result in a non-bailable indictment. Are the INC fanatics saying that it’s okay for the government to “intervene” when their church has everything to gain, but not okay when it gets hurt by the same kind of “intervention”? Who do they think they are? They are taking us all for fools!
—ROSE ANNE BARTOLOME, roseannebar88@yahoo.com