By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter
MORE than half a million members of religious group Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) began a three-day rally in the Philippine capital on Sunday, calling for government transparency and accountability as the country grapples with a widening flood control scandal that has heightened political tensions.
More or less 650,000 people joined the anti-corruption rally at Quirino Grandstand in Manila as of 6 p.m., as estimated by the city’s disaster risk reduction and management office in a Facebook post.
This comes amid a widening controversy over the alleged misuse of hundreds of billions of pesos allocated to flood control projects.
The INC is a minority church group in the predominantly Catholic nation, with 2.8 million members. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines last week warned against what it called “political exploitation” ahead of the INC-led rally.
“We would like to clarify, we are not meddling in politics,” INC minister Bienvenido Santiago, Jr. told protesters in Filipino, according to a livestream broadcast by the church’s media arm, adding that the religious group is “standing united with Filipinos speaking out against massive corruption in flood control projects.”
The INC is opposed to any form of violence in addressing the corruption scandal, urging instead that the issue be resolved through legal and constitutional means, he added.
“We do not agree with revolution. We do not agree with a revolutionary government. We do not agree with a coup d’état. We do not agree with a snap election. We do not agree with the establishment of a civilian-military junta,” he said in Filipino. “What we want is for all solutions to follow a legal and peaceful path.”
Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko” M. Domagoso ordered the suspension of face-to-face classes across all school levels until Tuesday due to the INC-led rally, according to the city’s public information office.
“Your city government has deemed it best to spare you from inconvenience… in light of this large peaceful rally,” he said in Filipino in a video published on the office’s Facebook page. “We have canceled classes in both public and private schools and directed a shift to alternative delivery modes.”
Courts in the capital will also stay closed until Tuesday due to heavy traffic expected from the mass rally, the Supreme Court said in a separate statement.
The religious group has played a key role in national elections, with politicians courting its support due to its bloc-voting practice. Backers of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio included the INC, which endorsed both candidates ahead of their landslide victory in the 2022 elections.
“This is a display of political muscle, a reminder that even in a fragmented landscape, bloc-voting churches remain agenda-setters,” Ederson DT. Tapia, a political science professor at the University of Makati, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.
Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, an associate political science professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said the protest is “a show of force,” adding that it’s aimed at demonstrating that the INC bloc is “present not only in the ballot but out on the streets.”
“Our presence today is a declaration that justice matters, that integrity in public office matters, and that democracy only works when leaders respect the people they serve,” the INC said in the same Facebook post. Photos from the event showed participants wearing white shirts bearing the slogan “Transparency for a better democracy.”
Mr. Marcos has sought to quell public outrage over the scandal, saying last week that politicians and officials linked to fraud would be jailed before Christmas.
In a statement on Sunday, the United People’s Initiative (UPI) said Mr. Marcos should resign if he fails to contain the scandal engulfing his administration and answer allegations lobbed against him by resigned Party-list Rep. Elizaldy S. Co, who previously headed the House of Representatives and Appropriations Committee.
“We call on President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. to take immediate and decisive steps to restore confidence in the Office of the President immediately,” the group, which organized a separate protest in Quezon City, said.
Mr. Co had accused Mr. Marcos of ordering the insertion of P100 billion in this year’s national budget.
“If President Marcos, Jr. cannot satisfactorily address these allegations with honesty, transparency, and verifiable accountability within a reasonable and clearly defined period, then he must resign,” UPI said.
“This is not a partisan call,” it said. “This is a constitutional and moral imperative.”
‘CAREFULLY AMBIGUOUS’ PROTESTMr. Tapia said the INC’s protest messaging was “strategically calibrated” to remain general and avoid calling for any official’s resignation in an attempt to preserve ties with both the Marcos and Duterte camps.
“INC’s messaging is carefully ambiguous but strategically calibrated,” Mr. Tapia said. “They are not attacking the administration outright. Instead, they are occupying a space of moral grievance, framing their participation as a call for fairness, accountability and due process.”
In September, tens of thousands of Filipinos staged anti-corruption protests at Luneta Park in Manila and Quezon City, in what was the largest demonstration then against the government scandal that has since eroded business confidence and dampened economic growth.
Mr. Borja said the September protests were coalition-based, while the Sunday demonstration was led by a single organization, raising questions about its inclusivity.
“The September rally was a broad, multi-sectoral protest with diverse groups and varied messaging,” said Mr. Tapia. “The INC-led rally is the opposite, it is centralized, disciplined and institutionally curated.”
Authorities have barricaded roads leading to the Presidential Palace to prevent a repeat of what happened on Sept. 21, when hundreds of masked men dressed in black clashed with police in an attempt to breach the perimeter after the main protest in Luneta.
Truck containers and coils of barbed wire were positioned along key streets, like Mendiola, photos circulated on social media showed.
“This mobilization by the INC is just a repeat of its January 2025 show of force,” Arjan P. Aguirre, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila, said in a Facebook chat. “It is a mere flexing of political muscle.”
More than a million INC members rallied at Luneta Park on Jan. 13 after congressmen intensified impeachment efforts against Ms. Duterte. The impeachment complaint largely fizzled after the Supreme Court struck it down, though a petition to overturn the ruling remains pending.
