DOJ to summon Iglesia ni Cristo leaders

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Justice (DOJ) will summon leaders of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) for a preliminary investigation into criminal charges – including serious illegal detention – filed against them by expelled members of the religious sect.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima vowed fairness in the conduct of the preliminary investigation, wherein the eight respondents are expected to file counter-affidavits “as part of the process.”

Aside from serious illegal detention – a non-bailable offense – the eight INC ministers are also facing charges of harassment as well as threats and coercion. The eight are members of the 10-man Sanggunian, the INC’s highest administrative council.

Expelled INC members Isaias Samson Jr. and Lito Fruto filed the complaints.

De Lima said investigating prosecutors would issue subpoena requiring the respondents to appear in a hearing.

It was her order to have the complaints investigated that prompted the INC leadership to call for street protests and demand the resignation of De Lima.

INC officials have accused De Lima of disregarding the principle of the separation of church and state and of giving “extraordinary” attention to the complaints.

Named respondents were Glicero Santos Jr., Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago Sr., Mathusalem Pareja, Rolando Esguerra, Eraño Codera, Rodelio Cabrerra and Maximo Bularan.

“Certainly, they would be accorded their right to answer the charges during the preliminary investigation. That’s part of the process and the requirements of fair play and due process,” she said in a text message.

In the wake of reports that the Palace had reached an agreement with the INC to end its street protests, De Lima declared she was not quitting and would in fact proceed with the preliminary investigation as part of her department’s “ministerial duty.”

The National Prosecution Service, the prosecutorial arm of the DOJ, is still evaluating the complaints and has yet to form a panel of prosecutors, according to Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.

After the preliminary investigation, the prosecutors will determine whether probable cause exists to warrant the filing of cases in court.

In the absence of probable cause, a case is dismissed.

But based on DOJ rules, any resolution issued by the prosecutors is subject to review by the DOJ chief if the aggrieved party files a petition for such.

Samson, former editor-in-chief of INC’s official publication Pasugo, alleged that the respondents prevented him and his family from leaving their house in Quezon City last July after he was accused of being blogger “Antonio Ebanghelista,” who attacked the INC on his blog site.

Fruto, on the other hand, filed harassment charges against the members of the INC Sanggunian for supposedly concocting rape charges that led to the issuance of an arrest warrant and hold departure order against him. He said the harassment came after he sided with Angel and Lottie Manalo, siblings of executive minister Eduardo Manalo, in questioning the church’s leadership.

Meanwhile, a group of Filipino journalists asked the INC to apologize in public for its followers’ manhandling an ABS-CBN News cameraman during their protest activities last week near the EDSA Shrine.

Melchor Pinlac said he was grabbed by the neck, punched in the jaw, body and back of the neck by unidentified men – believed to be INC members – as the crowd around him shouted “biased, biased.”

Rupert Mangilit, secretary general of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP), said the attack was deplorable.

A reporter of dzBB, Olan Bola, was also pushed around as he tried to stop the attack on Pinlac, the NUJP reported.

Mangilit explained it’s natural for some quarters to feel – rightly or wrongly – that a media outfit or practitioner may be showing partiality toward an issue. “However, not this or any perceived slight, for that matter, can ever justify a physical assault against media practitioners.”

“In such mass gatherings as the INC protest, it does not take much for a peaceful crowd to transform into an out of control mob,” Mangilit said.

“For this, the leadership of the INC is primarily to blame,” he said.

“Whatever feelings the INC or its members may have towards particular media outfits, this does not give them the license to assault journalists who are merely performing their duty to record the unfolding events,” the NUJP official added.

“The INC leadership, in particular, should know this since, after all, they do operate a media network themselves,” he said.

The NUJP also blamed law enforcement authorities and the government for failing to ensure peace and order. “It is infuriating to witness the orgy of back-patting and self-congratulations by the likes of Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II and police officials, who even thanked the INC for a ‘peaceful’ protest.”

 The NUJP also said it was outrageous for the police to even suggest that they would forward any complaint by Pinlac to the INC. – With Artemio Dumlao