No blinking

The Iglesia ni Cristo has flexed its muscles in the streets in the past, so the INC leadership should be well aware of the risks in staging a show of force.

Two things can happen. One, the government bows to the INC’s wishes. Or two, the government digs in its heels, flexes its own muscles and goes ahead with whatever the INC is protesting against.

A weak, destabilized government will take the first option. A strong one can’t afford to blink.

The INC’s “surprise rally” beginning on Tuesday actually left the Marcos administration with no option but to show strength and stability, and the Office of the Ombudsman to announce that it would forge ahead with the court indictment of INC member Rodante Marcoleta for plunder.

Any accommodation for Marcoleta at this point would be seen as some form of capitulation to the INC.

President Marcos pushed ahead with his four-day official visit to Canada, signifying “what, me worry?”

For the millions of people who suffered supreme inconvenience from the INC’s lightning blockade of EDSA especially on the first day, it’s hard to sell the idea that the disruption in their lives was necessary to strike a blow for accountability, in defense of Marcoleta.

Isn’t that what the indictment of Marcoleta for plunder is all about? He is being held accountable for P75 million that he accepted as a congressman from three generous private donors. He himself disclosed in a TV show that the P75 million was meant for his Senate bid, but which he did not declare in his statement of campaign contributions.

The Commission on Elections, in what was seen as a nod to the INC, accepted Marcoleta’s argument that no election law was violated since the money was given before the official campaign period.

But the P75 million was also not reflected in Marcoleta’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

His supporters argue that private funds given to a public official are not covered by the plunder law. The ombudsman and other legal experts have pointed out the provision in the plunder law to belie this. They also cite the conviction of former president Joseph Estrada for plunder for receiving P545 million in jueteng payola from gambling lords.

If that argument about the exemption of private funds has legal basis, all the crooked officials who accepted kickbacks from private contractors of flood control projects would be home free.

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Judging from the online rants, those who have suffered from the disruptions deliberately caused by the INC rally are additionally enraged by the idea that this is all for Marcoleta. The senator is no wicked natural charmer like Rodrigo Duterte. In fact he’s the opposite: a sourpuss best remembered for his spirited effort to have ABS-CBN shut down. The INC leadership may want to field another brand ambassador who’s not a grouch and who understands the workings of a free press.

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, whose bodyguard shot up the Senate so Ronald dela Rosa could go back into hiding, apologized, sort of, for the traffic snarl around the People Power Monument at EDSA. Cayetano said protest actions are meant to inconvenience people, to get the message across.

Irate folks also noted the irony of Iglesia members staging a protest around that monument on EDSA when the INC stayed out of the 1986 people power revolt that toppled the dictatorial regime of its longtime ally Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

On Wednesday night, as the crowd thinned at the EDSA event and the Quezon City government revoked the permit for the next day, the group moved to Liwasang Bonifacio in Manila, where Mayor Isko Moreno said no permit is needed for gatherings in the declared freedom park.

It’s unclear how long the protesters intend to stay at the Liwasan, where a small crowd would not be as noticeable as in nearby Rizal Park. There are speculations that rallies will continue until the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte beginning Monday.

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The INC also staged similar protests when Renato Corona faced an impeachment trial in which then Senate chief Juan Ponce Enrile performed impressively as the presiding officer. The Senate convicted Corona and removed him as chief justice.

Addressing the INC crowd, Marcoleta said he was ready to be arrested. His readiness will be tested when the arrest warrant is served.

He and his supporters did raise a valid point: when will the alleged looters of the budget and flood control funds in the House of Representatives, particularly former speaker Martin Romualdez, be charged in court and arrested?

At least 67 congressmen are allegedly involved in the anomalous transactions. INC members aren’t the only ones waiting for at least some of those 67 to be arrested and tossed in jail together with Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former senator Bong Revilla.

Are the INC’s grievances worth all the misery inflicted on the public? The opprobrium being heaped on the rallyists indicates what people think.

The INC may not care about the opinion of those outside its membership, but policy makers do. Despite the large INC flock, that general constituency is still much larger, and won’t be ignored by a government that cannot afford to look weak.

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CORRECTION: In my previous column, the P15 billion I mentioned as pocketed loot should have been P2.25 billion. My apologies.