AN INFLUENTIAL religious group abruptly ended its anti-corruption protest on Monday evening, cutting its planned three-day demonstration in the Philippine capital amid its push for transparency and accountability.
The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) in a statement said it had achieved its goal of “sending the message” as it urged the government to “decisively address” alleged collusion within and among its agencies to siphon of billions of funds from flood mitigation projects.
“It did not need three days to achieve the goal of sending the message that we are calling for justice, accountability, transparency and peace,” the INC said on Tuesday.
Around 550,000 people joined the INC-led protest at Quirino Grandstand in Manila at 8 p.m. Monday, its disaster management office said in a Facebook post. The crowd peaked at 600,000 an hour earlier, while more or less 650,000 attended on the first day of the demonstration on Sunday.
The religious group holds significant political influence due to its bloc-voting practice. Backers of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio included the INC, which endorsed both candidates ahead of their landslide victory in the 2022 elections.
“I agree with the statement of INC that it had already achieved within two days its goal of ‘sending the message’ to the government that it should seriously address the public’s call for transparency and accountability,” Dennis C. Coronacion, who heads the Political Science department of the University of Santo Tomas, said in a Facebook chat.
The mega church said its protest was not politically motivated, though figures linked to the Duterte camp have appeared as guests at the demonstrations. Senator Maria Imelda “Imee” R. Marcos, the President’s sister, delivered a scathing speech against Mr. Marcos that included accusations of longtime drug use before the protest was halted.
Palace Press Officer Claire A. Castro said Ms. Marcos’ accusations were baseless and may have been an attempt to divert attention from ongoing investigations into massive corruption that has gripped the Southeast Asian nation.
While the protest showed the INC’s ability to mobilize large crowds, Ms. Marcos’ remarks may have prompted the church to end it early, said Arjan P. Aguirre, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila University.
“The INC mobilization clearly made enough noise to show it can still bring out hundreds of thousands of people. But the impact was blunted once some politicians reframed the gathering as an anti-government protest,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat, noting Ms. Marcos’ speech “shifted the spotlight away from the flood control scandal and toward internal political conflicts.”
Ederson DT. Tapia, a political science professor at the University of Makati, said the church may have ended the rally to prevent “public fatigue, internal strain or unintended escalation” from its demonstration.
The INC is opposed to any form of violence in addressing the corruption scandal, urging instead that the issue be resolved through legal and constitutional means, its minister Bienvenido Santiago, Jr. said on Sunday.
“From the very start, we have stressed that we are against moves that are against the Constitution,” the INC said. “We started peacefully and we ended peacefully.” — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio
