El Shaddai won't join INC rally

MANILA, Philippines - Retired Novaliches Bishop Teodoro Bacani yesterday said the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai would not be joining the Feb. 28 gathering of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) at the Quirino Grandstand.

“We are not joining,” Bacani, spiritual adviser of the El Shaddai, said.

He said El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde did not mention that they would be taking part in the INC rally.

But Bacani could not confirm if some El Shaddai members would take part in the INC gathering on their own volition.

“I don’t know if there are individual members of the El Shaddai that are joining but as an organization, we are not joining that rally,” he said.

Velarde’s son Buhay Hayaan Yumabong (Buhay) party-list Rep. Mariano Michael Jr. said that he has no information that they would be joining the INC event.

“There has been no official directive from Bro. Mike for the El Shaddai members to join in the event,” Michael said.

When asked if the El Shaddai has an official position on the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona, Michael said they had none.

“The only thing that the people want is for due process to take its course. We do not want the legal system to be destroyed,” he said.

The El Shaddai holds prayer vigils Saturday nights till early Sunday morning. When asked if his father would make any announcement today related to the INC event, the congressman answered in the negative.

The INC would be holding a “Bible Exposition” at the Quirino Grandstand on Feb. 28.

There are rumors that the gathering is in support of Corona and former National Bureau of Investigation director Magtanggol Gatdula, an INC member dismissed for his alleged participation in the abduction and extortion of an undocumented Japanese woman.