Religious exercise?

While the natural course of things has added a year in my life, definitely my memory is not yet failing me. Yesterday’s mammoth crowd assembled together around the Quirino grandstand in Luneta by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) was just a repeat of a similar gathering years ago.

To be exact, on November 11, 2000, the INC gathered its flock and fellow Christians in a “National Day of Prayer” rally in Luneta. At that time, the impeachment trial against former President Joseph Estrada was also taking place at the Senate. It was no secret Mr. Estrada enjoyed close filial relations with the INC leadership at that time.

Still covering the Palace beat during those days, I distinctly recall Mr. Estrada made special appeals to the organizers of the prayer rally not to bring any streamers or banners in order not to politicize this religious gathering.

However, some participants managed somehow to sneak in small posters declaring “No to resign!” A helicopter also circled overhead with a sign reading “Uphold the Law,” an apparent reference to Mr. Estrada’s public supplications to his critics that the corruption charges against him be resolved through impeachment proceedings, not through street protests demanding his resignation.

As a special guest of the gathering, Mr. Estrada limited his speech to seeking “Divine Providence” to help improve the Philippine economy for the good of the poor, sought forgiveness for the sins of individuals and the nation, and declared he was leaving his fate to God.

“Ambush” interviewed by us reporters after the rally, Mr. Estrada curtly replied he hoped God would listen to his prayers. While history showed otherwise, Mr. Estrada never blamed God for what later befell him.

Facing impeachment, Mr. Estrada tried to dispel allegations that the event was meant to match, if not outdo, a similar prayer rally organized on Nov. 4 that year by his most outspoken critics led then by the late Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin and former President Corazon Aquino at the EDSA Shrine in Mandaluyong City. That rally pressed for his resignation amid charges of widespread corruption.

Mr. Estrada insisted the gathering, dubbed a “National Day of Prayer and Fasting,” was not politics-related, but merely a continuance of a religious tradition he started when he assumed the presidency in 1998. However, it was widely viewed as a show of force to indicate that he still enjoys popular support. Aside from the INC, Estrada supporters came in full force like those from the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai, the Jesus Miracle Crusade, urban poor groups from all over Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

If it could be any credit, Mr. Estrada never used the powers of the presidency and the powers at his disposal to fight the impeachment proceedings against him. This, despite the fact that the impeachment complaint was also fast-tracked at the House of Representatives headed by then Speaker Manny Villar.

Fast forward. Villar is now one of the fellow Senator-judges of Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada, the namesake son of the former President in the ongoing impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Key characters during the Estrada impeachment trial are also the main figures in the current Corona impeachment trial. These are, namely, Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III, Senators Loren Legarda, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Frank Drilon, Gregorio Honasan, and Joker Arroyo who was one of the House prosecutors.

The memory of this huge gathering came back to me on the heels of the ongoing impeachment trial of Corona. The INC-led gathering yesterday was billed as the “Grand Evangelical Mission” to dispel persistent talk that it is a “show of force” for Corona.

The embattled head of the 15-man Supreme Court (SC) is not a member of the INC. But former justice Serafin Cuevas, who heads the Corona defense panel in the impeachment trial, is a known INC stalwart. Another INC stalwart, ex-Justice Secretary Artemio Tuquero is one of the defense counsels of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Both Corona and ex-President Arroyo are currently being prosecuted in various courts and under investigation by government regulatory agencies like the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

From what we gathered, Corona and the other members of the SC were reportedly invited to join yesterday’s gathering at the Quirino grandstand. But in deference to the religious intents of the event, Corona allegedly politely begged off to avoid being accused of using it to his favor.

The INC is much touted for its bloc voting during elections in our country. So much so politicians try to curry their favor. In the May 2010 presidential elections, Estrada did not get for the first time the INC bloc vote as it was reportedly given to President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

The shift of INC support away from Estrada was largely explained to the former President’s non-compliance with the unwritten agreement that he won’t run for the presidency anew. This was supposedly the guarantee of the INC-backed executive clemency that ex-President Arroyo granted to Mr. Estrada following his plunder conviction in September 2007. 

It was no surprise that yesterday’s gathering, though bereft of any political figures, was still viewed by the Palace with guarded optimism, especially with no invitation being sent to P-Noy who has personally led the impeachment campaign against Corona. “Everyone is invited,” P-Noy told Palace reporters yesterday when pressed if he was invited.

To the credit of the organizers of yesterday’s Luneta gathering, there was nothing that could be seen as politics-related streamers or banners. As repeatedly assured to President Aquino, the INC-led gathering was just a run-up to the religious group’s forthcoming centennial anniversary in 2014.

Police estimates placed the crowd at the Quirino grandstand around 300,000 as of press time yesterday. But this number does not include the equivalent thousands more around the entire Luneta area. The resulting monstrous traffic jams caught stranded many of their flock, not to mention the inconvenience to the general public caused by the religious exercise.

Hopefully, this religious exercise stays the way it was until the press goes to bed.