Frozen

That was a bizarre spectacle, the demonstrations called out by the leadership of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC).

For four days and four nights, thousands of INC massed first along Padre Faura St. in Manila and then at the Edsa-Shaw junction in Mandaluyong. The massing of demonstrators at Padre Faura doused the otherwise frivolous birthday party thrown by Justice Secretary Leila de Lima.

The Justice Secretary fled the building and, through the course of the protracted rally, remained not only silent but invisible. That was so characteristic of the administration she personified. Confronted with an angry mob in the streets, everybody froze.

Quick to indulge in public television addresses when he could not get his way, President Aquino said nothing – either during the days when the INC occupied the streets or the days immediately after.

It is said, Aquino cancelled all appointments while the demonstration was in progress – save for the unavoidable reception for the visiting Thai prime minister. One account has it that he left the Palace and retreated to Tarlac.

The family compound there, while not exactly a fortress, is surely a sanctuary. It is said that when Aquino withdraws to the compound, he instantly switches off all the concerns of his high office. Following is personal norm, did he also switch off the chaos that descended Metro Manila during the long weekend?

With Aquino absent, physically or psychologically, his closest aides seemed paralyzed. DILG Secretary Mar Roxas issued a printed statement but was otherwise invisible as well. MMDA chair Francis Tolentino must have been on one of his provincial sorties. Defense Secretary Gazmin was out playing golf at the Aguinaldo course. The Executive Secretary is invisible as a matter of course.

In a word, no one was in charge while the mobs choked traffic flow along Edsa and brought anxiety to everybody. There was no one to reassure the people. There was no one to bring direction to events.

Finally, late Sunday night, Aquino materializes at the Palace, convening the very officials named above who were all equally paralyzed for days. While the mobs choked traffic flow on Edsa, the only official actually negotiating face-to-face with the rally leaders was Mandaluyong mayor Ben Hur Abalos.

Early Monday morning, INC leaders called off the rally, saying an agreement has been reached with government. The tens of thousands convened along Edsa disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.

What exactly transpired in the few hours between the President’s men convening at his official residence and the evaporation of the mob on Edsa?

The INC leadership and the Aquino administration share at least one thing in common: neither can be relied upon to be fully transparent.

The INC leadership claims it arrived at an agreement with government. What exactly that agreement involves, they refuse to elaborate.

The Aquino administration says there was no agreement. If there was no agreement, there could be no concession. So there.

Still, testament to the low credibility of both sides, rumors persisted about what was agreed upon. Strangely, all the extrapolated versions of the agreement fall into two categories --- each the polar opposite of the other.

One version, peddled by those who advertise to being in the know, say the Aquino administration agreed to fire de Lima and junk the criminal complaint filed by an excommunicated INC official against the sect’s highest policy body. The Palace vigorously denied this version of the “agreement.”

Nevertheless, loud voices from civil society could be heard demanding full disclosure of the concessions made by an administration so evidently struck by fear of the sect. These voices resonate because they suggest the state’s proper role in protecting the rights of citizens facing persecution might have been abandoned out of political exigency.

As it is, there is widespread disappointment over how the Aquino leadership behaved while mobs occupied our streets. That behavior did not assure us government was ready to protect the public interest, whatever the political cost.

If it is true that our leaders capitulated to the mob, then this should be a sad day for the Republic. We have installed in high office men and women incapable of exercising statesmanship.

Critics of the administration are quick to shrug off the behavior of our officials during those days of mobs and demagoguery. It has been standard operating procedure of the Aquino administration, to buckle under pressure, freeze during an emergency and succumb to intimidation at first opportunity.

The opposite version of what really happened, however, acquits the administration.

This version affirms the INC unilaterally terminated its own rally when it appeared the sect could not muster enough warm bodies to dissuade the security forces from dispersing them when their permit to rally expired. Facing imminent defeat in the streets, the cabal directing the rally chose to retreat – covering the humiliating maneuver by claiming to have won some concessions from government. 

The rally, according to this version of the event, was not really intended to extract concessions from government. That INC routinely extracts that from vulnerable public officials out of the public eye.

The real intent of the rally was to settle the leadership question within a divided sect. One side of the internal power struggle decided to bring their people out to the streets to demonstrate they enjoyed the overwhelming majority over their detractors.

The actual mobilization, although impressive to outsiders because of the sheer chaos it created, was far inferior than expected. It had to be called off when it was under pain of exposing the entire sect to a far more humiliating outcome.