The religious faction that is the INC (Iglesia Ni Cristo) lost more than it gained with its show of power over the week.
Sure, it demonstrated that it can mobilize thousands of people. Sure, it proved it has the resources to suddenly bus in disciples to the capital, and bring traffic to a standstill. And yes, it has likewise proven that it will stand by the politicians that stand by it, and that its loyalty can be depended upon. But aside from that?
It was failure all around. It was a PR disaster at the very least. It was also a recruitment nightmare, a waste of goodwill, and the stripping of a mythic façade. All sorts of capital was expended: political, social, societal. At the end of the exercise, the INC limped away reviled, cussed by many, and facing possible criminal charges.
Its main beef? That its mouthpiece in the Senate, Senator Rodante Marcoleta, was targeted unfairly.
It was the eve of the filing of plunder charges against Marcoleta, and this being the Philippines, everyone knew it was going to happen before it happened. Some bird chirped the bad news to the flock, and the faithful quickly followed their shepherd to the middle of EDSA. Chaos unfolded, with many motorists finding their early-week routine disrupted.
The religious clan posits that its pet senator was the victim of “selective justice”, which isn’t justice. That thesis, however, is the entire antithesis of my own mantra, which is, “stick in jail whomever we can because we can’t possibly put all the criminals in jail anyway.” In short, bird in hand. Stuff that bird in jail as an example to all the birds hiding in the bushes, in China, in Mindanao.
Selective justice is indeed justice. At least, we’re able to exact a little bit, right? Otherwise, we fall victim to the cruelly-appealing fallacy of “if he can get away with it, I should be able to get away with it too.” Tu quoque, indeed.
The INC made a major miscalculation in strategy. It defended the accused not with the automatic first line of defense: innocence. Instead, it defended him with the glib excuse: but what about all the rest? Why isn’t the administration filing cases versus the others? Why is Marcoleta being targeted?
Oh sure, it claims not all the elements of plunder are present. But it forgets, the senator’s admission of accepting ?75 million big bucks is damning. To the common folk, that is a walloping amount. They are not going to be concerned with dissecting whether all the elements of a weird new crime are proven. They’re just going to be whacked by the sheer amount handed over to the senator.
That amount wasn’t meant to be used for a food bank, or for school children. It wasn’t meant to pay for the salaries of school teachers, or for ecology guardians. It was just meant for him. For him alone. To keep in his pocket. To use as he pleases. To enjoy.
Does that not, in any fashion or by any means, sink into the INC’s brains as being slightly distasteful? As unsettling? As condemnable, even? How do they think us ordinary folk will accept this as being aboveboard? Perhaps, in its normal world of Forbes Park residences and massive untaxed landholdings, that is a trifling amount. But not in ours.
As expected, the lightning rally fizzled. No one came out to rally along with the INC. No other groups (except some losers in hiding) issued calls for support. A basketball player’s funeral cortège was able to muster more supporters to the streets than the INC could.
And so the INC went home. To what, we may ask. Social media did them no favors, with ordinary folks pissed off. They were heckled, and threatened. Government figures inched away, beginning with Quezon City, which issued them a belated rally permit, only to be revoked a few seconds later. Former members came out, exposing its inconsistent stance on politics. Legal scholars began enumerating the crimes that could have been committed. And at the end of the day, the government didn’t blink --criminal charges were indeed filed.
So was Marcoleta worth it?