Miriam says INC vote significant in poll results

MANILA, Philippines - The vote of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) will “radically change” the chances of winning of senatorial bets in the coming May 13 elections, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said yesterday.

Santiago said the senatorial candidates should not be complacent about their survey rankings, because the INC is now said to have nine million voters who traditionally vote as a bloc.

Santiago said the INC ticket will be geared toward punishing certain re-electionist senators who may have “double-crossed” the INC in the past.

“INC, out of patriotism, took a strong position during a recent political controversy. Certain re-electionist senators reportedly promised to support the INC position; but out of opportunism, reneged on their promise when the hour came,” she said.

Santiago though refused to divulge further details of the supposed double-crossing re-electionists, saying this might violate the privacy of the INC. 

“You don’t double-cross the INC and get away with it,” she warned.

Santiago told the annual national convention of the Philippine Masons in Iloilo City yesterday of her doubts if the partisan campaigns launched by certain Catholic parishes would be a factor in the vote this May.

“In fact, it may only turn out to be divisive. The main reason is that the campaign to punish incumbent senators who voted in favor of the Reproductive Health Law is merely an act of vengeance, an attitude that evokes the Old Testament, and is incompatible with the emphasis on Christian love in the New Testament,” she said.

“It makes me squirm when I watch on television a cleric mouthing a political vocabulary. It makes my toes curl.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III believes the endorsement of the so-called White Vote by El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde will boost further his chances of winning in the elections.

As regards the INC vote, Pimentel said he is not yet assured of any support this year.

“Iglesia, you will never know until one week before (the May elections). I am hoping that this time they will support me because in 2007 they did not support me,” Pimentel said at the roundtable discussion at The STAR on Wednesday.

Pimentel said he is reaching out to his close friends at the INC.

Santiago, on the other hand, said the next Senate president would likely emerge from the administration coalition.

She narrowed down the list to four senators, including a neophyte, only if the candidate wins in this May 13 elections.

Because of the numerical edge enjoyed by the administration coalition, Santiago said the next Senate president would come from the senior members of the coalition, namely Sergio Osmeña III, Franklin Drilon, Teofisto Guingona III and Cynthia Villar,  wife of outgoing Sen. Manny Villar of the Nacionalista Party.

Villar, former representative of Las Piñas, is allied with the administration coalition.

-Jennifer Rendon