Expelled Manalo accuses INC of corruption

MANILA, Philippines - It was the anomalies, not an attempt to wrest control of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), that Felix Nathaniel “Angel” Manalo says forced him to speak up against the leadership of the highly secretive but politically influential religious organization.

Angel, brother of the church’s executive minister Eduardo Manalo,spoke to members of the media at past midnight yesterday, hours after he was expelled for supposedly “creating divisions in the church.”

“We have not seen anomalies during the time of Felix Y. Manalo and Bro. Eraño Manalo. Why are there anomalies now?” Angel, speaking through an opening at the gate of their residence at No. 36 Tandang Sora, Quezon City, said in Filipino.

Felix Manalo, who founded the INC in 1914, was the grandfather of Angel and Eduardo. Their father, Eraño, took over the church’s top post until his death in 2009.

“We love our brother. However, our problems are the people around him. The doctrine of Iglesia ni Cristo has already been violated,” he added. “There are anomalies. There are corrupt practices within the church. We don’t want that.”

Asked to elaborate, Angel said there are unnecessary infrastructure projects that INC has undertaken in the past years, including the P7.8-Philippine Arena in Bocaue, Bulacan.

“Our priority should be to construct chapels. Our funds for the chapels are already depleting,” he added.

Angel, who was expelled from the Church on Thursday along with his mother Christina “Tenny” Manalo and sister Lolita “Lottie” Manalo-Hemedez, had expressed his love for brother Eduardo, who has yet to make a public appearance since the issue cropped up on Wednesday night.

He called on his brother not to listen to the people around him, especially the members of the Sanggunian who are leading the supposed abuse of church doctrine.

In his brief statement to the media, Angel called on their supporters to gather outside their residence and hold a vigil to show support for their fight against those abusing the doctrines of the church.

“To our brethren, please come here,” he said in Filipino. “Let us defend the church and not let anyone put a spear (into INC).”

INC spokesman Edwil Zabala, meanwhile, dismissed the calls and said that the church’s members are busy preparing for the special worship service on Sunday that will be held at the Philippine Arena.

“It will be streamed in around 1,800 locations around the world,” he said.

The INC spokesman said there is no scheduled activity on Monday, which is the church’s 101st founding anniversary.

Another INC critic

A 50-year-old Filipino-American doctor who was arrested last week for allegedly raping a male student in Caloocan City admitted that he was one of the bloggers who have been attacking the INC leadership that led to his expulsion from the church.

“The Iglesia ni Cristo now is not being run by the Manalos. There is a coup d’etat inside. I am a member but I was expelled when they learned that I knew something about what was happening and I was supporting Ka Lottie and her group,” said Jose Norilito Fruto, now detained at the Caloocan City police jail after he was arrested in Barangay 170 in Deparo, Caloocan last July 14.

Fruto said his troubles with the INC started when he answered a post of  Lottie in Facebook asking for help because there are vehicles following her brother Angel.

He said there are powerful people behind executive minister Eduardo Manalo who are actually running the affairs of the church.

Fruto admitted that he started writing blogs using pseudonyms to expose the irregularities of some personalities in the church hierarchy who were responsible for corruption in some projects.

A confessed bisexual, Fruto said he still believes in the teaching of the church but will continue to oppose the people behind the “evil schemes” in the INC.

He said they have the numbers and there are at least six more bloggers who will continue to expose everything they know about the INC.

Fruto said Antonio Ebangelista is the pen name of an INC member who had been writing blogs to expose anomalies in the church.

He said he was also involved in the exposé on the involvement of INC members, particularly Rick Ventura, father-in-law of executive minister Manalo; Erano Codera, Glicerio Santos Jr. and Marlon Esguerra, in the anomalies at the Bureau of Customs.

He also revealed that the political endorsement of the INC of candidates and personalities lobbying for certain government positions is for sale.

“Politicians who go to the central office to get endorsements pay hefty amounts that run up to millions of pesos. There are also concessions that the church asked from them, like the appointment of Iglesia members to sensitive posts. Nothing is free,” he said.

Fruto said ministers openly questioning the church were expelled and some are either hiding out of fear for their safety or they simply vanished.

At least 11 ministers were expelled this year, said Fruto, an ophthalmologist formerly based in California.

He tried to resist arrest when policemen barged into his house on Maya Street in Novaville Subdivision in Deparo shortly before 11 p.m.

Caloocan police chief Sr. Supt. Bartolome Bustamante, an INC member, said Fruto was arrested based on a complaint filed by 21-year-old Kim Joel Tan, who claimed that the doctor raped him twice on July 4 and July 12 and even threatened to leak the sex videos the suspect made on the Internet if he would not give in to his sexual advances.

Chief Insp. Ilustre Mendoza, Caloocan police Investigation and Detection chief, said Fruto was charged with two counts of rape, grave threats and resisting arrest. – With Rey Galupo