‘INC not violating church, state separation’

MANILA, Philippines – San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora has defended the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) from allegations it is violating the constitutional principle on separation of church and state by endorsing candidates in an election.

In a Facebook post, Zamora, who heads the opposition in the House of Representatives, said such accusations are baseless.

“Only the ignorant will say that the enhanced political role of the INC violates the separation of church and state,” he said, “Politics is the exclusive realm of the individual citizen, of his conscience and his personal decisions; and if a person decides in perfect freedom to commit his political decisions to the guidance of a church, then politics is the concern of his church as well.”