It is serendipitous that the influential Iglesia ni Kristo has entered the fray in the nation’s soul-searching against governmental corruption. In a lightly veiled show of force, it has mounted a 650-thousand throng rally this week, short of the 2 million that it has promised. At the heels of this political extravaganza, media talking heads are asking if the Marcos government should now quake in its boots. Already people suspect that the Filipino sect has cut short the rally because some wheeling and dealing has already occurred behind the scenes between Manalo’s group and Marcos, like the supposedly untimely resignation of three of Malacañang’s Cabinet officials. But whether this is true or not, the so-called rally for transparency and democracy of this Christian sect is, as already mentioned, serendipitous. Because as we clean up government from corruption, every political scientist or analyst worth a centavo would tell you, this sect has been part of the problem. As it joins the fray therefore, it must also subject itself to the standard of transparency and democracy that it is now shouting from the rooftops, as it were.
At the core of the corruption scandal is what political observers call “rent-seeking,” which in layman’s term simply means, “I scratch your back, you scratch mine.” DPWH secretaries or their underlings give away infrastructure projects to unqualified private contractors in exchange for their sumptuous kickback. On the other hand, the private contractors get three or five percent commission off every project which run in the millions and the opportunity to get hold of other governmental projects. The notorious Discaya companies for instance were rewarded 400 projects at one time. Bereft of pork barrel which was already deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, our greedy lawmakers join this rent-seeking game for the kill. More than 50 at the House of Representatives and seven from the Senate are now implicated in the flood-control mess.
In his seminal work, “An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines,” Alfred McCoy has traced the rise to power and fortune of several eminent families in the Philippines. Rent-seeking was how these have perpetuated themselves and survived the outrageous slings and arrows of fortune of Philippine economy and politics. McCoy writes that these families would promise national politicians, especially Presidential candidates, to deliver them votes from their bailiwick on election day. In turn, the families get business contracts as well as political support once the candidates are successfully elected. Over time, these families have solidified and consolidated economic and political power becoming the monster that we now know as “political dynasties.” In its post-2022 elections report, the Ateneo School of Government says that more than 80 percent of current elected officials come from these dynasties. It also observes that based on a 30 to 40-year study of these political bailiwicks, most of these dynasties have simply brought underdevelopment to their districts. Rent-seeking in short is the bane of Philippine politics and development. It has long held hostage the government, rendering it inutile and corrupt. It must therefore be expunged from our politics if we really hope for a different future.
But not only powerful families have engaged in political rent-seeking. Religious sects and organizations have also learned the ropes of the trade. The Catholic Church was deemed influential too because it played a critical role in the return of democracy in the Philippines, including the People Power revolution in 1986. But as an institution, the Church, as per its Canon Law, can never promise votes to politicians, much less force people to vote for a particular candidate. Talks of a “Catholic vote” will never gain ground in a Church that has historically valued individual conscience and discernment. In contrast, the Iglesia ni Kristo has blatantly practiced block voting. Before elections, it endorses candidates that its members should elect and 30-50 percent of its members do as they are told. This translates to one to two million votes for any aspiring politician. And this explains why with their tails between their legs, the callous ones troop to the Iglesia palace to get the blessing and endorsement of the Manalo family. And later on attack the Catholic Church for allegedly meddling in politics and violating the constitutional principle of Church-State separation. This also explains why they buy expensive whole pages from newspapers to greet the Manalo family or the sect for whatever occasion. In return, what does the powerful sect get? Cabinet or key government leadership positions? What we can ascertain is that with its block voting, the sect has extensively helped put in power unqualified and unsavory politicians, including the current government it is now rallying against.
At the start of the rallies against corruption, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines has called on even herself to do its own soul-searching, ostensibly admitting, we are part of the culture of corruption in this country. Some parish priests for instance appoint their mother or father in key parish positions. But what of the Iglesia ni Kristo that has now joined this campaign against corruption? Beyond the abstract slogans of “transparency” and “democracy” which many of the rallyists could not explain to media reporters, what does the sect bring to the table from hereon? No more rent-seeking via block voting? Does transparency mean more media access to the workings of their institutions? As observers point out, the only commonality among the three sects involved in the Luneta rally was the fact that these were all family-owned – INC by the Manalo family, JIL by the Villanueva, and KJC by Quiboloy. If the INC in particular are sincere in their appeals in Luneta, does the democracy they now tout mean sharing the leadership to non-Manalo family members? What indeed comes next for the INC in these heady days of our nation’s soul-searching? As one poet said, will it “be the change that it wants to see in this world?”
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