Schism

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) is a mystifying institution.

It is as secretive as its churches are explicit. Its finances are a mystery. Its tentacles of power and influence extend deep into the bureaucracy. It certainly commands the respect of elective officials interested in winning their much-vaunted block-voting constituency.

From all indications, the INC is a monolithic organization — the sort that would make Lenin happy. Its members are rigidly disciplined and closely supervised. Its flock enjoys the protection of the sect — including helping them find employment and providing for their educational and medical needs. In exchange, tithes were levied to support the institution.

When I was a student activist in college, we often peered at the impressive INC headquarters just outside the sprawling UP campus and kidded about “socialism in one sect.” The high degree of social security the INC offered its members seemed to us a rough approximation of the sort of society we were fighting for — except that we called it “national democracy.” 

In 1972, the day martial law was imposed, an Army detachment dutifully approached the INC headquarters to disarm its guards.  The soldiers were repelled by heavy gunfire. They never tried to carry out that mission again. The sect triumphed as some sort of republic within the Republic.

Like all monolithic organizations, dissent within the INC is dealt a heavy hand. Contrarians are routinely expelled and dealt with as infidels. Factions that left the fold subsequently suffer the sect’s extensive influence.

101 years ago this month, the INC was established as a doctrinaire institution. Among its cardinal maxims is the one that says that only members of the sect will be saved on judgment day. Those who are expelled, therefore, lose not only their community but also their opportunity at salvation.

That is a pretty compelling sales pitch. It is the condition that allowed this congregation the capacity to demand so much from its members, to control their lives beyond what other religious communities are capable of.

Like all monolithic organizations, a crack, wherever it happens, is likely to make its way to the top. A personal rivalry or a factional dispute eventually worsens into a schism.

Monolithic organizations are, by their nature, brittle ones. Inflexibility might appear to be a strength, but it is truly a weakness. Reliant on enforcing obedience, such organizations have no mechanisms for settling internal disputes. They have no capacity and no institutional memory for achieving compromise.

 For this reason, we might reasonably expect that the current differences among its most senior members will eventually produce a split in the organization.

Corruption

Nothing mystified outsiders more about the INC than the events of the last two days.

The wife and son of the previous INC leader, mother and brother of the current leader, are reported to have been expelled from the organization. Several senior ministers have likewise been expelled. These events are unprecedented.

A purge, akin to what Stalin did, seems underway. It will decimate the senior leadership and leave ordinary members confused, hurt and disillusioned.

Among those who seem to be targeted by the purge, there seems to be a great deal of fear. There was one report that says a senior minister was detained by the police and a grenade planted on him. Another report talks about how a senior sect official escaped “house arrest” and subsequently sought sanctuary in a foreign embassy.

Because the INC is not a transparent organization, the highly dramatic events of the past two days invite a high degree of speculation. Much of what we know is derived from blogs put out under pseudonyms.

It is rather telling that when several members of the Manalo family, descendants of the sect’s founder, claimed they were being detained against their will and threatened by armed squads, the police seemed hesitant to respond. If any other family made such claims, a SWAT unit and a SAF squad might have been immediately deployed.

Only after the incident blew up into a major media frenzy did the Secretary of Justice order an NBI team to investigate.  During much of Thursday, as the drama at INC headquarters unfolded, seemed at a loss about how state authorities should respond. Reported to be planning a run for the Senate, the INC block vote is important.

 The INC minister who sought refuge in a foreign embassy said enough when he explained he did not trust Philippine authorities to secure him. After social media carried claims by INC insiders that the brand new PNP chief was appointed on the basis of the sect’s intercession, the top police official found it necessary to issue a denial.

There seems to be many things happening in the shadows in this case, away from public glare. To be sure, all parties to the fraternal infighting now tearing the INC apart, have open lines to the powerbrokers and the powers-that-be. This is an event likely to spill out onto the larger political sphere, having great consequences on the alliances and outcomes of next year’s crucial presidential elections.

There will also be more beans to spill.

This story is beginning to revolve around claims of corruption within the leadership ranks of the INC. As the infighting becomes bitter, more senior officials of the INC seem willing to speak on the issue.

The allegations of corruption in the sect cannot entirely be an internal matter. A force in our electoral politics, the secrets of this sect could force a rewriting of our political history.