EDITORIAL - Looming controversy and how to avoid it

Another potentially explosive situation involving the Iglesia ni Cristo is in the offing, and this time it could be right here at home. This new prospect for trouble has to do with a soon-to-be-implemented project of the Department of Public Works and Highways to widen F. Sotto Drive, which runs parallel to one side of the huge INC property on Gen. Maxilom Avenue. The project calls for a portion of the INC fence along F. Sotto to be torn down, as well as a two-story building inside.

Naturally, the INC is not happy, and despite the court clearing the project, it is still trying to stall implementation on constitutional grounds of religious freedom. If that rings a bell, think to a few days ago when the INC brought Metro Manila traffic to a halt when thousands of its members took to the streets to stop an investigation of INC pursuant to a complaint for illegal detention filed by a dismissed minister. The INC said the investigation violated its religious freedoms.

In both the Metro Manila and Cebu cases, however, the invocation of religious freedom is fallacious. It is not the appropriate legal hurdle to place in front of the state in the exercise of its duty to investigate alleged crimes or its right to expropriate private properties. Nevertheless, as the country has already seen in the Metro Manila incident, there is no denying the capability of the INC to just simply stand in the way. Period.

If the INC decides to employ the same method it used in Metro Manila, then it makes for an interesting wait to see how government would handle such a problem. In the case of Metro Manila, a deal was supposedly struck between the INC and Malacañang, although nobody knows exactly what the deal is. But Cebu is not Metro Manila. It is not the center of power from where strength can be projected. No similar deal is expected to be struck in case none of the parties would budge.

And yet, curiously, it has never occurred to anybody that there is probably no need for a faceoff, that the INC can protect its property in another way without having to resort to a show of force that will only inconvenience countless innocent others and lead to only one logical and troublesome end. If the INC does not mind, it can take a cue from how a similar problem involving a Catholic property -- the Asilo de la Medalla Milagrosa -- was resolved peacefully and without incident.

To recall, the Asilo de la Medalla Milagrosa property was also in serious danger of being chopped off to give way to a flyover that was proposed to be built in the area. But the Asilo sisters would hear none of the arguments put up in the name of development and better traffic. They stood their ground and, with the right support, eventually had their way. Today the Asilo is intact, a monument to both religious heritage and to successful resistance against government.

The INC need not court the same public indignation that greeted its Metro Manila show of force. It can simply invoke the Asilo incident to argue its case. If the government refuses to concede in the same manner that it did with Asilo, then the INC would well be within its right to accuse the government of being selective in its dealings with religious institutions.