Palace backs De Lima on INC; members gather at EDSA

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) members started massing late last night along EDSA in Mandaluyong City as Malacañang said it was supporting Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Leila de Lima’s position in investigating the reported kidnappings of expelled INC officials.

National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Chief Superintendent Joel Pagdilao raised the full alert status and activated the Task Force Manila Shield, which is being formed during protest rallies in Metro Manila.

One INC group gathered in front of SM Megamall and moved toward EDSA corner Shaw Boulevard while another group gathered along the thoroughfare in front of EDSA Shrine.

EDSA northbound from Shaw Boulevard to Ortigas Avenue and the intersection of EDSA and Shaw Boulevard were closed to traffic at  about 11 p.m., the NCRPO said.

 Melchor Pinlac, a cameraman of ABS-CBN, was hurt after being mauled by three proteters, reports said.

Police placed the number of protesters at EDSA last night at  5,000.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said De Lima’s position is well within the authority of the government.

“Government’s duty is to ensure that the laws of the land are complied with and it does not wish to interfere in the internal affairs of any legitimate organization,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

The government, he stressed, is non-partisan on the issue.

“Government is not taking an adversarial position against the INC, whose contributions to national development and demonstration of civic consciousness are duly acknowledged,” he said.

“We trust that expressions of dissent will continue to be peaceful, orderly and not in any way disruptive of normal activities of our citizenry,” he said in a statement.

“The DOJ has been performing its duties in accordance with its mandate of ensuring every person equal access to justice to faithfully safeguard constitutional rights and to ensure that no one is deprived of due process of law,” Coloma said.

“There are mechanisms and processes under the law, which are available to anyone that would seek to question the actions of the Department of Justice,” he maintained.

Binay hits DOJ chief

Vice President Jejomar Binay, for his part, defended INC members’ staging a protest against De Lima, saying they were just protecting their faith.

Binay questioned De Lima’s motive in prioritizing the serious illegal detention case filed by an expelled INC member over the cases involving suspects in the Mamasapano carnage in January.

He said De Lima should focus on more pressing issues, including justice for the 44 members of the Philippine National Police Special Action Force (PNP-SAF) who died in Mamasapano, Maguindanao at the hands of Muslim rebels.

He said she should also prioritize the case against businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles and other individuals involved in the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) scam.

Col. Noel Detoyato, Armed Forces Public Affairs Office chief, said the military for now is seeing the INC rally as a purely police matter.

“It’s a police procedure. If called, we will just support them,” Detoyato said.

Thousands protesting

Thousands of protesting Iglesia ni Cristo members continued to converge yesterday on Padre Faura street in Ermita, further worsening traffic in the city and disrupting services in key establishments.

Employees in nearby offices failed to report for work, forcing the rescheduling of investigations and hearings on several cases.

Also in the vicinity of Padre Faura were the Philippine General Hospital and the University of the Philippines-Manila.

The INC members began to assemble on Padre Faura Thursday upon instructions of their leaders to protest De Lima’s reported interference in the sect’s internal affairs. De Lima was celebrating her 56th birthday at the DOJ when the buildup of INC members along Padre Faura began.

She had ordered the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look deeper into a complaint of serious illegal detention filed by an expelled INC member against leaders of the group.

Traffic chaos and more disruptions in services are expected in the coming days as Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada allowed the INC to stage rallies in several parts of the city until Sept. 4.

The INC protesters are expected to stay outside the DOJ until tomorrow. Sources said a massive gathering of INC members would be held on Monday at the EDSA Shrine.

In Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista made clear that EDSA is not a rally venue. But he said the INC has yet to apply for a permit to rally in Quezon City.

INC members started gathering at two major malls near the historic EDSA Shrine yesterday afternoon.

INC spokesman Edwil Zabala denied they were bullying De Lima.

With protesters blocking the gates of the DOJ, Investigating Assistant State Prosecutor Gilmarie Fe Pacamara told reporters they had to reset to Sept. 10 the preliminary investigation into the libel charge filed by suspended Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. against Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV over the latter’s bribery insinuation in the Court of Appeals.

Binay was supposed to submit his reply to the counter-affidavit of Trillanes, but was unable to appear because of the closure of Padre Faura since the rally started last Thursday. Other parties in the case also failed to show up for the preliminary investigation.

At the SC, litigants were also unable to file new petitions or follow up on pending cases because protesters were also blocking the SC main gate on Padre Faura.

Among them was UP law professor Harry Roque Jr. who was supposed to file a petition seeking to stop the Senate investigation against  Binay. He said he would just file his petition next week.

The stretch of Padre Faura from Taft Avenue to Ma. Orosa street was already filled with INC members who stayed overnight, making it difficult for DOJ and SC employees to get to their work places.

Braving rain

Not even the strong rain in the afternoon was able to disperse the crowd, which even grew bigger and reached about 4,000 as of 3 p.m., according to police authorities.

De Lima, the subject of the INC protest due to her supposed “extraordinary attention” on the charges of harassment, illegal detention, threats and coercion filed by expelled minister Isaias Samson Jr. and his family against leaders of the church, did not show up at her office yesterday.

In a text message, she told reporters she was in the Palace to attend several meetings. Her security aides arrived in her office in the morning to pick up several documents.

De Lima, however, still would not address the issues hurled against her by the INC members. Pressed several times to issue a statement, the Cabinet official did not reply.

Last Thursday – her birthday – the DOJ chief said she would not comment on the INC protest, stressing she was just doing her job.

“What I can only say is that I am just doing my job. I don’t have any other motive but fealty to my sworn duty,” she stressed.

While he was affected by the protest, Roque of the Center for International Law (Centerlaw) said he sympathized with the INC protesters, particularly with their call for the DOJ chief to respect the separation of church and state.

“The freedom of expression and of religion occupies the highest rungs of our constitutional values. In fact, the people’s right to freedom of religion is stymied if they are denied their right to express such freedom,” he said in statement.

“Freedom of expression is central to our communal quest for the truths that animate who and what we are as a society. We deny such freedom, we tell ourselves we are afraid of these central truths and find no relevance for them in our daily lives, and to the meaning of our existence,” he stressed.

On the other hand, the camp of Samson slammed the INC leadership and respondents in his criminal complaint for resorting to “public pressure” instead of seeking recourse with the courts.

“Mr. Glicerio Santos Jr. and his cohorts react to our filing of cases against them in a manner that speaks of irrationality and non-responsiveness… They believe that a massing of people pressuring officials to rule in their favor is a strategy that gets them off the hook,” his lawyer led by Trixie Cruz-Angeles said in a statement.

Holding banners calling for separation of church and state, the INC protesters listened to a program on a stage built in front of the DOJ gate. The program included song performances, speeches and showing of documentaries. Several LCD screens were also put up along the street. – With Helen Flores, Paolo Romero, Aie Balagtas See, Jaime Laude, Janvic Mateo, Delon Porcalla