MikeLigalig.com

By Gil C. Cabacungan
Inquirer Central Luzon, Philippine Daily Inquirer
1:30 am | Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
 

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) is leaning toward a 7-5 senatorial slate favoring the administration coalition’s Team PNoy over the “opposition” United Nationalist Alliance (UNA), as the block-voting religious sect tries to appease both President Aquino and Vice President Jejomar Binay.

Multiple sources from the Senate and the House of Representatives came up with a virtually common list of the INC’s favored candidates for the senatorial elections in May.
The seven Team PNoy candidates that the INC is endorsing are Juan Edgardo Angara, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Grace Poe, Antonio Trillanes IV and Cynthia Villar.

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The INC consulted its local leaders last week about the lineup and is expected to make a formal announcement of the senatorial candidates it is endorsing to members on Wednesday, according to the sources in Congress.

A senator, who requested anonymity, said the INC had historically delivered a minimum of 3 million votes for the candidates that it supported. (Census data show that INC has less than 2 million voting-age members.)

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Vying for command votes

In the last week of the campaign, senatorial candidates are scrambling to get “command votes” from religious groups and influential local politicians to gain the support of a still significant number of voters who have yet to decide on whom to vote.

Those with a statistical chance of winning a seat are separated from their nearest rivals by less than a percentage point to up to three percentage points—well within the margins of error of the surveys by Social Weather Station and Pulse Asia.

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The INC leaders were widely seen as having stood by Corona during the Senate trial as his lead counsel, former Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas, is a high-ranking member of the INC.

The INC chose Grace Poe and Nancy Binay although it picked former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the late Fernando Poe Jr. in the 2004 presidential election and Mar Roxas over Jejomar Binay in the 2010 vice presidential race.

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Malolos Diocese’s slate

The INC list came after the Malolos Diocese released its own roster of preferred candidates that did not include senatorial candidate Bro. Eddie Villanueva, an evangelist.

Villanueva said he was not offended by the apparent snub, although Bulacan is an important voting area. Bulacan has the third-largest voting population among provinces, with more than 1.5 million registered voters, according to his spokesman, Joey Munsayac.

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“I still believe that Filipinos, particularly Bulacan residents, would not allow religious influences to obstruct the country’s progress because this is a manifestation of their love for their country,” said Villanueva, a preacher, who founded the Jesus is Lord Movement.

Villanueva said he respected the diocese’s decision.

Religious groups like the National Council of Churches of the Philippines have expressed support for Villanueva’s senatorial candidacy, according to Munsayac.

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But Fr. Raul de los Santos said “many [priests] are quietly supporting Among Ed [Panlilio].” He did not cite figures, explaining that they preferred to remain anonymous as “many of us do not intend to divide our ranks.”

He said the support for Panlilio was fueled by his fight for freedom. “Freedom is God’s gift. There shall be no more freedom in our beloved province if we are going to be controlled by just one family,” De los Santos said before blessing some 1,000 civilians and candidates who joined the LP provincial motorcade on Saturday.

He admitted he had campaigned for Panlilio since 2007. “I think as priests we have to make a stand and teach people to make an intelligent stand, even if that stand divides,” he said.—Reports from Carmela Reyes-Estrope and Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon

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