The recent show of force of the Iglesia ni Cristo by massing thousands of their followers in the Department of Justice, then in the EDSA Shrine and lately in the corner of EDSA-Shaw Boulevard, is not a surprise because their hierarchy has always have this penchant to show their manpower numbers and the obedience of their flock to the wishes of their leaders.
What is surprising is the lack of or ambiguous objective of these rallies. What are they trying to achieve? What is the end result that they expect of these rallies? Their declared or obvious objective was for Justice Sec. de Lima to back-off or stop the investigation of the kidnapping and illegal detention complaints of some of the expelled Ministers, and for the government and the media to stop coverage of the current internal struggle within the INC hierarchy. The legal and administrative bases for the actions of the DOJ have been clearly explained and have nothing to do with religious freedom, or the separation of religion and the state. But by staging these demonstrations, the INC has achieved exactly the opposite of their stated objective. The mainstream media, the social media, radio and TV are all over on these rallies, and are reporting not just on the rallies but on the internal leadership issues within INC and the previous untoward incidents within their Church. These have resurrected the issues and generated mostly negative reactions in the main and social media, which are not positive for the INC as a church, as an organization, and to their leaders.
As we are eight (8) months away from the 2016 elections, it is also not a surprise that some political figures have taken advantage of these demonstrations to promote their interests and/or weaken the existing administration for the coming election. There is very little probability (about 10 percent) of these rallies escalating into a people power rally that will topple the government, primarily because the issue is not a popular issue that will affect a large number of people. The issue concerns a minority group of people, two million out of 100 million, who wants to be accorded special status or treated with gloved hands because of their ability to gather a large obedient crowd and to vote as ordered by their leaders. I am even quite sure that some members of INC do not subscribe completely to these current actions of their leaders. In fact the dissent of some of the Ministers and the cases already filed by these dissenters, attest to this conscientious objections by some of their members. The high positive approval of the PNoy administration, the election being so near, the loyalty of the people in the government, and most of all the negative reaction of the greater portion of the population against these demonstrations, will make these INC rallies counter-productive to their objective. It did not also help their cause that Peping and Tingting Cojuangco, and Boy Saycon were seen in the rallies, or that Binay, Bongbong Marcos, and Escudero expressed support for the rallies as these people have obvious vested interests.
On the vaunted large voting block of INC votes, about a million, these recent demonstrations negated that advantage. While there is no Roman Catholic voting bloc as the Catholics do not vote according to the dictates of their church leaders, in the coming elections and maybe in the elections to come, there might be a portion of Catholic votes that are counter votes against the candidates endorsed by the INC. One million out of fifty million voters is two percent and there are as many members in the Catholic charismatic communities, even excluding El Shaddai and the Jesus is Lord movements. The INC voting bloc and the consequent political clout was, is, and will be more effective when it is not out in the open and flaunted. A visible or palpable force always invites a counterforce. This is a law of human nature, of social behavior, and of physics.
It is amazing and amusing, how powerful people and individuals at certain points in their power rule always make decisions or act against their own interest. History, mythology and the Bible are full of examples of these follies; the entry of the Greek Trojan horse to the walls of Troy, the breakup of the twelve tribes of Israel, the rebellion and secession of Martin Luther from the Catholic Church, the loss of the American colonies by the British, and what the Marcoses did in the Philippines and to the Aquinos, are some examples of bad decisions that resulted in dire consequences to the powerful. I surmised that this is because these powerful people are surrounded by cheering squads or people who dare not contradict these rulers, and therefore give them bad advice. Or these rulers are so hard headed and so fool of themselves, they do not listen to good advice. Or it could just be divine intervention or God's will or God's justice.