Ombudsman pushing through with plunder case vs Marcoleta

MANILA, Philippines —  Amid religious sect Iglesia ni Cristo’s rallies, the Office of the Ombudsman will proceed with filing plunder charges in court this week against INC member Sen. Rodante Marcoleta.

“Nothing has changed. We will file. This has not changed anything,” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla said yesterday in a chance interview.

While the INC has freedom of expression to stage a rally in support of Marcoleta, Remulla said the claim of “selective justice” is a “wrong premise.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang urged the INC to avoid becoming a pathway to destabilization as the INC rally along EDSA entered its second day yesterday to protest the looming court indictment and possible arrest of Marcoleta.

Palace press officer Claire Castro said that while the administration believes the INC rally is not meant to destabilize the government, the religious group should be wary of people seeking to oust President Marcos.

“Our appeal to the leadership of the INC is to be careful because they might be used by other people who aim to oust the President,” Castro said at a press briefing.

If the rally extends to tomorrow as originally requested by its organizers, the government would not prevent INC members from holding it as long as they follow the law, she said.

Castro reiterated that the administration respects the right to free expression and protesters would be dealt with maximum tolerance.

“So, we hope they will not provoke the members of our police,” she said. 
Castro also assailed the President’s estranged sister Sen. Imee Marcos for claiming during the first day of the INC rally that the administration is “bangag” (drug intoxicated) and sleeping on the job.
She said Imee, an ally of Vice President Sara Duterte, is relying on “fake news” to malign the government.

“Obstructionists like the senator are pitiful... But those who clapped while listening to Sen. Imee Marcos are more pitiful because they probably do not know that the stories Sen. Imee Marcos was telling are baseless,” Castro said.

Present during yesterday’s INC rally were Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Senator Marcos.

In his speech, Cayetano slammed the ombudsman for its “selective justice,” assailing the agency for its interpretation of plunder.

“If that was plunder, maybe half of those in government ought to be jailed because of donations,” he claimed.

Batangas 1st district Rep. Leandro Leviste, who was again in EDSA yesterday, urged people not to label the gathering as an “INC rally,” because many attendees were allegedly not members of the religious group.

Destabilization won’t prosper – Jonvic

Meanwhile, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) is not ruling out the possibility that destabilization plots against the Marcos administration could emerge during the protest rally organized by the INC in support of its member, Marcoleta.

“There is a big possibility, especially with politicians again joining the fray,” DILG chief Jonvic Remulla told “Storycon” on One News yesterday.

“But we’re confident that the Armed Forces and the PNP (Philippine National Police) are united. All our ground troops all the way up to the generals are united in protecting the Constitution,” he added.

Remulla said they are “100 percent confident” that there are no destabilization plots emanating from within the administration, “but it’s always a possibility that they might try from the outside.”

He also laughed off claims that Vice President Duterte is already poised to take over the presidency.

“Give us two more years, give the President two more years. Whoever the people choose in 2028, there will be peaceful transition of power… there’s no use hurrying up,” he said.

The secretary also addressed questions over the supposed double standard in handling the “surprise” rally, which paralyzed areas around the EDSA People Power Monument on Tuesday morning.

“When it is a peaceful and a simple protest, there’s no need to use extreme measures to disperse them… It’s always maximum tolerance,” he said.

Remulla confirmed meeting with the INC leadership to discuss the peace and order situation in relation to the protest.

“They agreed to some of the terms that we discussed,” he said, citing the clearance of EDSA’s southbound lane of protesters.

Alert just routine’

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro Jr. clarified yesterday that the military’s decision to place its Metro Manila units under red alert status amid the ongoing protest activities of the INC along EDSA is just routine.

“There is ongoing coordination with the PNP,” he told reporters in a chance interview.

“Our AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) is only there as support to the PNP to preserve the peace and that’s a normal and routinary thing,” he said.

Teodoro noted that the military has not monitored any serious threat that the public should be concerned about. - Michael Punongbayan, Delon Porcalla