Iglesia Ni Cristo® Congressman Rodante Marcoleta leaves the Minority in Favor of Duterte's Majority Block at the Request of the INC™'s Administration

... and there was NO PROTEST against "SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE"!!

Photo Source: Manila Balita

"Asked why Marcoleta left, Lagman said the party-list congressman informed him that he was joining the majority coalition at the request of the Iglesia ni Cristo, a highly influential religious group known for voting as a bloc."

By: DJ Yap

Tweeter @deejayapINQ

Philippine Daily Inquirer

October 2nd, 2016

The House opposition’s “Legitimate 8” is now the “Magnificent 7.”

An independent minority faction in the House of Representatives initially composed of eight lawmakers has lost one of its key members to President Duterte’s “supermajority.”

Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta “is applying for membership” in the majority, according to Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, a member of the opposition faction that supported the bid of Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat to be minority leader in July.

“Though we’re no longer the ‘Legitimate 8,’ now we’re the ‘Magnificent 7,’” Lagman told the Inquirer.

Asked why Marcoleta left, Lagman said the party-list congressman informed him that he was joining the majority coalition at the request of the Iglesia ni Cristo, a highly influential religious group known for voting as a bloc.

Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas confirmed the move, but said Marcoleta had given him a different reason.

“I received a letter from him asking me to accept him in the majority pursuant to our rules,” he said.

“The reason he cited was he had realized that his advocacies were more aligned with those of the majority,” said Fariñas, also the chair of the powerful committee on rules.

He clarified, however, that Marcoleta’s transfer was not yet final. “Even if the authority is with me to act on his request, out of courtesy to the Speaker [Pantaleon Alvarez], I’ll consult with him first,” he told the Inquirer.

Lagman said he was not too upset by Marcoleta’s departure from their bloc, whose members have been critical of President Duterte and his policies.

“Even though we lost a member, we are still recognized as the real minority,” he said, noting that Minority Leader Danilo Suarez “is not being critical” of the administration at all.

The other members of their “magnificent” group are Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, Capiz Rep. Emmanuel Billones, Akbayan Rep. Tomasito Villarin and Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza.

Except for the party-list lawmakers, Baguilat, Lagman and the three others belong to the former ruling Liberal Party (LP) whose numbers have been decimated by Mr. Duterte’s PDP-Laban, now the dominant force in the chamber.

Twenty-eight LP members led by former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. have joined the administration bandwagon, a multiparty coalition that has been touted as Mr. Duterte’s supermajority.

Tax-Payer's Money Used to Greet the INC 100th Foundation Anniversary

I share the views of Mr. Efren C. Carag who corageously pointed out the huge tax-payers money being used during the 100 Year Founding Anniversary of the INC of Manalo. This article was from Philippine Inquirer Online

On LGUs’ enviable recognition of INC
Nine pages of the July 27 issue of the Inquirer contained greetings to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) on its 100th founding anniversary, including one on full page from the Office of the Mayor of Manila! Wow! These were in addition to such greetings in the earlier issues of the Inquirer, including INC’s less than one-fourth-page acknowledgement of the greetings.

The Inquirer was not the only media outfit that ran or aired such greetings. Billboards and tarpaulin sheets printed with words of felicitations for the religious sect could be found in every available nook and cranny of Metro Manila and, of course, Bulacan, where the INC has built a multibillion-peso multipurpose complex. There must have been a lot more of these messages in the rest of the country. Nagkakandarapa ang mga tao na bumati sa INC. (People are scrambling to greet the INC.)

As a Catholic, I cannot but envy the importance accorded to the INC. I am now a septuagenarian and I do not recall the Catholic Church being the subject of recognition of such breadth and scale, let alone in paid advertisements in the Inquirer.

As a Filipino, I lament the attention given to the INC. That the organization is a vaunted political force and influence is a given. Without doubt or question, the advertisers wish to be assured of the continuing vote of INC members to perpetuate them, their family, their children, their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren in power.

Such is just one part of my grievance.

My other concern is the source of funds used to pay for the publication and/or printing of the greetings. Most likely, it was the city, province or political unit; more specifically the Filipino people, with the taxes and exorbitant fees they pay for government services.

By the way, I do not take issue with the Inquirer’s multipage feature article on the INC in last July 27’s issue. I respect our constitutional guarantees on the freedom of religion and freedom of the press. What I cannot countenance is the implication from all this: how distant we still are from political uprightness and integrity.

—EFREN C. CARAG,

caraglaw@yahoo.com