On Monday, the 13th, the religious sect Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) will hold a simultaneous nationwide peace rally.
The INC calls the activity a peace rally to beg the country’s top warring political leaders to, once and for all, come and work together for the good of the nation. Other than that the INC admitted that through the nationwide rally the said church is hoping for the stop of the impeachment proceedings against the lady Vice President, again for the nation to attain peace.
One political group led by the now more prominent opposition headed by former President Rodrigo R. Duterte and his daughter Vice President Sara, however, would rather have the people believe it is a country-wide rally to manifest the religious group’s support to the VP, who her supporters claim, is being persecuted by the administration..
The No. 2 official of the land now has four impeachment complaints waiting for its consolidated version to be acted upon by the Lower House before these are transmitted to the Senate for the trial proper. The Senators will sit as judges in the trial.
If we have to believe the INC they’ll only be out there to let their sentiment of stopping the impeachment processes and have the warring officials or political groups and work together for the good of the Filipinos. Other than that there is nothing in the rally that will endeavor to pressure President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to leave Malacanang.
But again, the political group that is trying its best portray the VP as the rally “beneficiary” by letting misinformation, intrigues and obvious actions muddle the INC’s intention somehow appeared to have succeeded in supplanting its own agenda.
Imagine having major regional centers being prepared, traffic wise, for the avalanche of INC members coming from the provinces trooping to the rally sites! In Davao City alone the authorities are closing as many as a dozen roads that would lead to San Pedro st. It is at the so-called San Pedro Square fronting the City Hall that the INC rally will be held. And the closure starts on the 11th of January up to rally day on Monday. Organizers told the police that some 500 thousand sect members will come to Davao City from all Regions in Mindanao to participate in the rally.
For certain the INC organizers will also tell the police in the other regional capitals of the country that the same, a little bit less, or much bigger number will be converging in those areas come Monday, the 13th.
Now, can the rest of the Filipinos expect from the rallyists a behaved crowd as expected of them by the INC leadership? Can the members adhere to the teachings of their Church and the policies imposed by their top Church leader in Rev. Edgardo Manalo?
Wil they willingly set aside their individual partisan feeling and rein it in despite the lure by political operators? Or will the members and perhaps some of the INC’s top leaders be easily goaded into allowing the supposed Peace Rally become the vehicle of the political group’s primary agenda in having itself as not only a major participating group but also as “beneficiary” of the activity?
Meaning, the members and some INC leaders will allow the rally participants to become foot soldiers leading an attempt for a Malacanang grab?
We can only hope that none of the INC top leaders and some members would make such costly mistake. The blood of Filipinos who might get hurt or perhaps even killed should such possibility happen, will likely take a lifetime to get washed or even dried up in their hands.
And we hope as well that the military and the police will remain in their most vigilant and unpartisan state during the January the 13th INC rally so as not to allow saboteurs and other elements with malicious agenda to slip in their cordon and proceed to create chaos among the rally participants.
It is only by maintaining such decorum can the general public be assured that indeed the INC rally has no other agenda than the desired peace in the land and unity among its leaders.
