Category: Jejomar C Binay

Back to script: PNoy’s Social Contract

mcmangahas Leave a comment

HE DELIVERS today his sixth and last State of the National Address.

But President Benigno S. Aquino III and the citizens he calls his “Boss” might do well to go back to script and check his “Social Contract with the Filipino People.”

This, he said in his own words, would be the terms of reference or platform on which he would build his presidency.

Sixty-months hence, what is the verdict from the bosses? Will Aquino fail or pass, by his own promises? Are we facing a case of tinimbang ka at sapat sa sukat or tinimbang ka ngunit kulang?

In what seems like a preamble to his “Social Contract,” Aquino described a portrait of government and politics that he says he wants to stamp out. Is the picture gone or does it linger still?

Let us review what Aquino had promised to do as president.


A SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH THE FILIPINO PEOPLE:
PLATFORM OF GOVERNMENT

A NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN NEED OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

* Its legitimacy is under question;
* It persecutes those who expose the truth about its illegitimacy and corruption;
* It stays in power by corrupting individuals and institutions;
* It confuses the people with half-truths and outright lies;
* It rewards, rather than punishes, wrongdoing;
* It offers no lasting solutions for the many problems of the country;
* It weakens the democratic institutions that hold our leaders accountable.
* It hinders our local governments from delivering basic services;
* It has no vision of governance beyond political survival and self-enrichment.

A PEOPLE CRYING OUT FOR CHANGE
* Corruption robs our children of their protection, nutrition and education.
* Corruption destroys our families and communities.
* Corruption steals from our farmers and workers.
* Corruption deters businessmen from investing in our economy.
* This has eroded our spirit as individuals, as communities, as a people.
* We have lost trust in the democratic institutions we so courageously re-established after the dictatorship.
* Our proven capacity for collective outrage and righteous resistance has been weakened.
* We have ceased to depend on the patriotism and civic engagement that used to animate many of our efforts.
* We have become divided and alienated, focusing only on ourselves and on our individual pursuits.
* Our moral faculties as a people have been paralyzed.
* We have retreated into a dark world of self-absorption and cynicism. Our collective despair has reached its lowest point.

THEN FINALLY, THE GIFT OF LIGHT

Cory Aquino passed on to the next life. From our sadness, we awakened to a shaft of light cutting through the darkness. She left the Filipinos a legacy of selfless love for country and people.

Filipinos’ connection with each other was rekindled. In death, she enabled us to hope again for decent government. The millions who connected with Cory at her funeral represented something more than euphoria, sentiment or transient emotions. They represented the reverent memory of a good leader in the past and the firm hope of having a similarly good leader in the future.

A PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN OF RENEWED HOPE…

* Anchored on Ninoy’s and Cory’s legacy of change through the ways of democracy
* Embraces the qualities of integrity, humility and trust-worthiness in public leadership
* Recognizes the absence of these qualities in government as a major cause of widespread poverty, misery and despair.

THE VISION FOR THE PHILIPPINES:

A COUNTRY WITH…

1. A re-awakened sense of right and wrong, through the living examples of our highest leaders;

2. An organized and widely-shared rapid expansion of our economy through a government dedicated to honing and mobilizing our people’s skills and energies as well as the responsible harnessing of our natural resources;

3. A collective belief that doing the right thing does not only make sense morally, but translates into economic value as well;

4. Public institutions rebuilt on the strong solidarity of our society and its communities.

OUR MISSION:

We will start to make these changes first in ourselves—by doing the right things, by giving value to excellence and integrity and rejecting mediocrity and dishonesty, and by giving priority to others over ourselves.

We will make these changes across many aspects of our national life.

A COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

1. From a President who tolerates corruption to a President who is the nation’s first and most determined fighter of corruption.

2. From a government that merely conjures economic growth statistics that our people know to be unreal to a government that prioritizes jobs that empower the people and provide them with opportunities to rise above poverty.

3. From relegating education to just one of many concerns to making education the central strategy for investing in our people, reducing poverty and building national competitiveness.

4. From treating health as just another area for political patronage to recognizing the advancement and protection of public health, which includes responsible parenthood, as key measures of good governance.

5. From justice that money and connections can buy to a truly impartial system of institutions that deliver equal justice to rich or poor.

ECONOMY

6. From government policies influenced by well-connected private interests to a leadership that executes all the laws of the land with impartiality and decisiveness.

7. From treating the rural economy as just a source of problems to recognizing farms and rural enterprises as vital to achieving food security and more equitable economic growth, worthy of re-investment for sustained productivity.

8. From government anti-poverty programs that instill a dole-out mentality ® to well-considered programs that build capacity and create opportunity among the poor and the marginalized in the country.

9. From a government that dampens private initiative and enterprise to a government that creates conditions conducive to the growth and competitiveness of private businesses, big, medium and small.

10. From a government that treats its people as an export commodity and a means to earn foreign exchange, disregarding the social cost to Filipino families to a government that creates jobs at home, so that working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity; and when its citizens do choose to become OFWs, their welfare and protection will still be the government’s priority.

GOVERNMENT SERVICE

11. From Presidential appointees chosen mainly out of political accommodation to discerning selection based on integrity, competence and performance in serving the public good.

12. From demoralized but dedicated civil servants, military and police personnel destined for failure and frustration due to inadequate operational support to professional, motivated and energized bureaucracies with adequate means to perform their public service missions.

GENDER EQUALITY

13. From a lack of concern for gender disparities and shortfalls, to the promotion of equal gender opportunity in all spheres of public policies and programs.

PEACE & ORDER

14. From a disjointed, short-sighted Mindanao policy that merely reacts to events and incidents to one that seeks a broadlysupported just peace and will redress decades of neglect of the Moro and other peoples of Mindanao.

ENVIRONMENT

15. From allowing environmental blight to spoil our cities, where both the rich and the poor bear with congestion and urban decay to planning alternative, inclusive urban developments where people of varying income levels are integrated in productive, healthy and safe communities.

16. From a government obsessed with exploiting the country for immediate gains to the detriment of its environment to a government that will encourage sustainable use of resources to benefit the present and future generations.

This platform is a commitment to change that Filipinos can depend on.
With trust in their leaders, everyone can work and build a greater future together.

Back to script: PNoy’s Social Contract

mcmangahas Leave a comment

HE DELIVERS today his sixth and last State of the National Address.

But President Benigno S. Aquino III and the citizens he calls his “Boss” might do well to go back to script and check his “Social Contract with the Filipino People.”

This, he said in his own words, would be the terms of reference or platform on which he would build his presidency.

Sixty-months hence, what is the verdict from the bosses? Will Aquino fail or pass, by his own promises? Are we facing a case of tinimbang ka at sapat sa sukat or tinimbang ka ngunit kulang?

In what seems like a preamble to his “Social Contract,” Aquino described a portrait of government and politics that he says he wants to stamp out. Is the picture gone or does it linger still?

Let us review what Aquino had promised to do as president.


A SOCIAL CONTRACT WITH THE FILIPINO PEOPLE:
PLATFORM OF GOVERNMENT

A NATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN NEED OF TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE

* Its legitimacy is under question;
* It persecutes those who expose the truth about its illegitimacy and corruption;
* It stays in power by corrupting individuals and institutions;
* It confuses the people with half-truths and outright lies;
* It rewards, rather than punishes, wrongdoing;
* It offers no lasting solutions for the many problems of the country;
* It weakens the democratic institutions that hold our leaders accountable.
* It hinders our local governments from delivering basic services;
* It has no vision of governance beyond political survival and self-enrichment.

A PEOPLE CRYING OUT FOR CHANGE
* Corruption robs our children of their protection, nutrition and education.
* Corruption destroys our families and communities.
* Corruption steals from our farmers and workers.
* Corruption deters businessmen from investing in our economy.
* This has eroded our spirit as individuals, as communities, as a people.
* We have lost trust in the democratic institutions we so courageously re-established after the dictatorship.
* Our proven capacity for collective outrage and righteous resistance has been weakened.
* We have ceased to depend on the patriotism and civic engagement that used to animate many of our efforts.
* We have become divided and alienated, focusing only on ourselves and on our individual pursuits.
* Our moral faculties as a people have been paralyzed.
* We have retreated into a dark world of self-absorption and cynicism. Our collective despair has reached its lowest point.

THEN FINALLY, THE GIFT OF LIGHT

Cory Aquino passed on to the next life. From our sadness, we awakened to a shaft of light cutting through the darkness. She left the Filipinos a legacy of selfless love for country and people.

Filipinos’ connection with each other was rekindled. In death, she enabled us to hope again for decent government. The millions who connected with Cory at her funeral represented something more than euphoria, sentiment or transient emotions. They represented the reverent memory of a good leader in the past and the firm hope of having a similarly good leader in the future.

A PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN OF RENEWED HOPE…

* Anchored on Ninoy’s and Cory’s legacy of change through the ways of democracy
* Embraces the qualities of integrity, humility and trust-worthiness in public leadership
* Recognizes the absence of these qualities in government as a major cause of widespread poverty, misery and despair.

THE VISION FOR THE PHILIPPINES:

A COUNTRY WITH…

1. A re-awakened sense of right and wrong, through the living examples of our highest leaders;

2. An organized and widely-shared rapid expansion of our economy through a government dedicated to honing and mobilizing our people’s skills and energies as well as the responsible harnessing of our natural resources;

3. A collective belief that doing the right thing does not only make sense morally, but translates into economic value as well;

4. Public institutions rebuilt on the strong solidarity of our society and its communities.

OUR MISSION:

We will start to make these changes first in ourselves—by doing the right things, by giving value to excellence and integrity and rejecting mediocrity and dishonesty, and by giving priority to others over ourselves.

We will make these changes across many aspects of our national life.

A COMMITMENT TO TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP:

1. From a President who tolerates corruption to a President who is the nation’s first and most determined fighter of corruption.

2. From a government that merely conjures economic growth statistics that our people know to be unreal to a government that prioritizes jobs that empower the people and provide them with opportunities to rise above poverty.

3. From relegating education to just one of many concerns to making education the central strategy for investing in our people, reducing poverty and building national competitiveness.

4. From treating health as just another area for political patronage to recognizing the advancement and protection of public health, which includes responsible parenthood, as key measures of good governance.

5. From justice that money and connections can buy to a truly impartial system of institutions that deliver equal justice to rich or poor.

ECONOMY

6. From government policies influenced by well-connected private interests to a leadership that executes all the laws of the land with impartiality and decisiveness.

7. From treating the rural economy as just a source of problems to recognizing farms and rural enterprises as vital to achieving food security and more equitable economic growth, worthy of re-investment for sustained productivity.

8. From government anti-poverty programs that instill a dole-out mentality ® to well-considered programs that build capacity and create opportunity among the poor and the marginalized in the country.

9. From a government that dampens private initiative and enterprise to a government that creates conditions conducive to the growth and competitiveness of private businesses, big, medium and small.

10. From a government that treats its people as an export commodity and a means to earn foreign exchange, disregarding the social cost to Filipino families to a government that creates jobs at home, so that working abroad will be a choice rather than a necessity; and when its citizens do choose to become OFWs, their welfare and protection will still be the government’s priority.

GOVERNMENT SERVICE

11. From Presidential appointees chosen mainly out of political accommodation to discerning selection based on integrity, competence and performance in serving the public good.

12. From demoralized but dedicated civil servants, military and police personnel destined for failure and frustration due to inadequate operational support to professional, motivated and energized bureaucracies with adequate means to perform their public service missions.

GENDER EQUALITY

13. From a lack of concern for gender disparities and shortfalls, to the promotion of equal gender opportunity in all spheres of public policies and programs.

PEACE & ORDER

14. From a disjointed, short-sighted Mindanao policy that merely reacts to events and incidents to one that seeks a broadlysupported just peace and will redress decades of neglect of the Moro and other peoples of Mindanao.

ENVIRONMENT

15. From allowing environmental blight to spoil our cities, where both the rich and the poor bear with congestion and urban decay to planning alternative, inclusive urban developments where people of varying income levels are integrated in productive, healthy and safe communities.

16. From a government obsessed with exploiting the country for immediate gains to the detriment of its environment to a government that will encourage sustainable use of resources to benefit the present and future generations.

This platform is a commitment to change that Filipinos can depend on.
With trust in their leaders, everyone can work and build a greater future together.

SB’s boast: ‘Hang me if FOI does not pass!’ Lip service?

mcmangahas Leave a comment

“ANG IPINANGAKO ko talaga is, during the 16th Congress. Bitayin ninyo ako kung matapos ito at hindi pa nakakapasa.”

[What I have promised was, during the 16th Congress (it will pass). When it ends and this does no pass, you can hang me."]

Thus spoke Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.in March 2014, in response to reporters’ queries about when the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will pass in the House of Representatives. That early, the FOI bill had already hurdled third and final reading in the Senate.

Belmonte, leader of the House, had practically offered his head to proclaim what was supposedly his firm commitment to get the FOI bill passed in the lower chamber.

Was he just lying or bragging or both?

Words are apparently cheap to Belmonte. His verbal affirmation has not been followed by affirmative action for the FOI bill in the last 14 months.

In the view of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition of 160 civil society organizations pushing for the FOI bill’s passage, Belmonte has merely paid lip service to a reform legislation that has been pending in Congress over the last 14 years.

Belmonte’s House, the Coalition said, seems to be no different from that led in the 14th Congress by Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr., an ally of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

At the time, the FOI bill was in its final stage of ratification by the House but Nograles and Arroyo’s allies, feigning a lack of quorum, postponed plenary vote until the 14th Congress adjourned sine die.

The Right to Know Coalition, in a statement issued on the eve of the sixth and last state of the nation address of President Benigno S. Aquino III, called out Belmonte and his “chief enforcer,” Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, for their failure to lead the FOI to passage.

The 16th Congress opens its third and last regular session tomorrow, July 27. It will adjourn sine die before the May 2016 elections.

A number of factors bode ill for the FOI bill. It seems headed, once again, to a tragic end in the 16th Congress.

These include the long recess intervals (i.e. Christmas break, Holy Week break); the frequent lack of a quorum because of absentee lawmakers; the election campaign that will see many politicians running for re-election; a long list of similarly urgent legislation (i.e. 2016 national budget, Bangsamoro Basic Law); and tepid support from Aquino, Belmonte, and Gonzales.

Belmonte, who was also Speaker of the 15th Congress (2010-13) when the Aquino-led Liberal Party Coalition gained control of the House, has hardly done anything to accelerate the House’s work on the FOI bill in the last six years.

Aquino, meanwhile, has largely been ambivalent and inchoate about his true position on the FOI bill, even as he had promised as a candidate for President in 2010 that he will support its passage. –PCIJ, July 2015

The statement of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition follows:

Speaker’s support for FOI mere lip service

AT AROUND the time that the Senate approved the FOI bill on Third Reading in March 2014, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. boldly proclaimed: “Ang ipinangako ko talaga is during the 16th Congress. Bitayin ninyo ako kung matapos ito at hindi pa nakakapasa.”

Yet on the ground, the Speaker has not lifted a finger to give FOI a positive push. The bill has advanced at the committee level through the efforts of the committee chair, House champions and FOI advocates, at times even with counter-signals from the House leadership.

One clear evidence of the Speaker’s lack of actual commitment to advancing the FOI bill was his failure to put the FOI on the agenda, even for just its sponsorship in plenary, before Congress went to recess last June. This, despite the Committee chair and authors expressing readiness for the bill’s sponsorship and defense, and a letter of appeal from advocates.

The Speaker, under the rules, is the political and administrative head of the House of Representatives. He is responsible for the overall management of the proceedings of the House. He is primarily responsible for preparing the legislative agenda for every regular session, with the view of ensuring the full deliberation and swift approval especially of priority measures.

With the Speaker only paying lip service to FOI, the FOI Tracker rating goes down to 25. It will just be a matter of time for his chief enforcer, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, to drive the final nail in the coffin of the FOI bill in the 16th Congress.

When all excuses are said and done, we see the House of Belmonte no different from the House of Prospero Nograles Jr. on FOI.”

Related links:

2015 will be a reckoning of promises on FOI

BT: Freedom of Information bill, nakabinbin pa rin sa Kongreso

SB’s boast: ‘Hang me if FOI does not pass!’ Lip service?

mcmangahas Leave a comment

“ANG IPINANGAKO ko talaga is, during the 16th Congress. Bitayin ninyo ako kung matapos ito at hindi pa nakakapasa.”

[What I have promised was, during the 16th Congress (it will pass). When it ends and this does no pass, you can hang me."]

Thus spoke Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.in March 2014, in response to reporters’ queries about when the Freedom of Information (FOI) bill will pass in the House of Representatives. That early, the FOI bill had already hurdled third and final reading in the Senate.

Belmonte, leader of the House, had practically offered his head to proclaim what was supposedly his firm commitment to get the FOI bill passed in the lower chamber.

Was he just lying or bragging or both?

Words are apparently cheap to Belmonte. His verbal affirmation has not been followed by affirmative action for the FOI bill in the last 14 months.

In the view of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition of 160 civil society organizations pushing for the FOI bill’s passage, Belmonte has merely paid lip service to a reform legislation that has been pending in Congress over the last 14 years.

Belmonte’s House, the Coalition said, seems to be no different from that led in the 14th Congress by Speaker Prospero Nograles Jr., an ally of then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

At the time, the FOI bill was in its final stage of ratification by the House but Nograles and Arroyo’s allies, feigning a lack of quorum, postponed plenary vote until the 14th Congress adjourned sine die.

The Right to Know Coalition, in a statement issued on the eve of the sixth and last state of the nation address of President Benigno S. Aquino III, called out Belmonte and his “chief enforcer,” Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, for their failure to lead the FOI to passage.

The 16th Congress opens its third and last regular session tomorrow, July 27. It will adjourn sine die before the May 2016 elections.

A number of factors bode ill for the FOI bill. It seems headed, once again, to a tragic end in the 16th Congress.

These include the long recess intervals (i.e. Christmas break, Holy Week break); the frequent lack of a quorum because of absentee lawmakers; the election campaign that will see many politicians running for re-election; a long list of similarly urgent legislation (i.e. 2016 national budget, Bangsamoro Basic Law); and tepid support from Aquino, Belmonte, and Gonzales.

Belmonte, who was also Speaker of the 15th Congress (2010-13) when the Aquino-led Liberal Party Coalition gained control of the House, has hardly done anything to accelerate the House’s work on the FOI bill in the last six years.

Aquino, meanwhile, has largely been ambivalent and inchoate about his true position on the FOI bill, even as he had promised as a candidate for President in 2010 that he will support its passage. –PCIJ, July 2015

The statement of the Right to Know, Right Now! Coalition follows:

Speaker’s support for FOI mere lip service

AT AROUND the time that the Senate approved the FOI bill on Third Reading in March 2014, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. boldly proclaimed: “Ang ipinangako ko talaga is during the 16th Congress. Bitayin ninyo ako kung matapos ito at hindi pa nakakapasa.”

Yet on the ground, the Speaker has not lifted a finger to give FOI a positive push. The bill has advanced at the committee level through the efforts of the committee chair, House champions and FOI advocates, at times even with counter-signals from the House leadership.

One clear evidence of the Speaker’s lack of actual commitment to advancing the FOI bill was his failure to put the FOI on the agenda, even for just its sponsorship in plenary, before Congress went to recess last June. This, despite the Committee chair and authors expressing readiness for the bill’s sponsorship and defense, and a letter of appeal from advocates.

The Speaker, under the rules, is the political and administrative head of the House of Representatives. He is responsible for the overall management of the proceedings of the House. He is primarily responsible for preparing the legislative agenda for every regular session, with the view of ensuring the full deliberation and swift approval especially of priority measures.

With the Speaker only paying lip service to FOI, the FOI Tracker rating goes down to 25. It will just be a matter of time for his chief enforcer, Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, to drive the final nail in the coffin of the FOI bill in the 16th Congress.

When all excuses are said and done, we see the House of Belmonte no different from the House of Prospero Nograles Jr. on FOI.”

Related links:

2015 will be a reckoning of promises on FOI

BT: Freedom of Information bill, nakabinbin pa rin sa Kongreso

Faith, politics, Iglesia inglorious

mcmangahas Leave a comment

THE IGLESIA NI CRISTO is a church at the crossroads. It has been so for many years now in a benign and quiet way.

This week, a rupture in the INC hierarchy broke out in the open> Two members of the family of the INC’s founding patriarch have sought rescue on Youtube, saying their lives are in danger.

But more than just being a home-grown church, the INC is a shrewd political and business operator, too.

In 2002, the PCIJ ran a two-part report on the INC to document how it parlays the votes of its members for political and financial concessions to the church.

It has done so over a series of presidential elections and political administrations from the time of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Read back the PCIJ report on the INC:

Iglesia ni Cristo: Church at the Crossroads
Iglesia ni Cristo: A Most Powerful Union

In 1998, the INC threw the support of its members, voting as a bloc, for Joseph Ejercito Estrada. Nudged out of the presidency in 2001, INC numbers swelled the ranks of those who mounted what is now called the EDSA 3 people power revolt, to demand Estrada’s return to power.

In 2004, however, INC endorsed Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for president.

In 2010, INC gave its votes and blessings to Benigno S. Aquino III, Arroyo’s arch critic.

This early, those who profer and offer themselves as supposedly the best choice for president have apparently started courting the INC’s votes for the May 2016 elections.

The Iglesia doctrine is based on the Bible and the “prophetic interpretations” of church founder Felix Y. Manalo, who left both the Catholic and the Protestant churches before founding the INC in 1914.

Manalo’s son Eraño is now the powerful executive minister of the church, while grandson Eduardo is deputy executive minister. They and 11 other senior ministers compose the “Central Administration,” which issue edicts that church members are compelled to follow.

Pasugo, the church’s official publication, asserts the church’s fundamental article of faith: that INC members constitute “the elect of God” and that God listens to them alone. To them, there is no salvation outside the Iglesia.

As Fernando Elesterio wrote in a dissertation submitted to De la Salle University: “It is this exclusivist attitude, generated naturally by the teachings of the ministers, that bestows on the members a sense of security and even of pride in their organization.”

“It does not matter that they are few, compared to those in the Catholic Church, or if they are viewed as unlettered; after all, they will go to heaven while the rest of mankind will go to hell.”

The church’s Internal Constitution lays down strict rules of behavior for its members. Drunkenness, adultery, and disobedience of church teachings are punishable by expulsion. Church members are also not allowed to join unions, making them ideal recruits for certain business establishments. “The church itself is a union, a most powerful union,” said a senior INC member.

The INC was founded on the eve of the World War I with only four ministers and 12 disciples. By 1936, it had grown to 300 ministers and evangelists with 500 churches and 350 chapels on Luzon island, according to the Encyclopedia of the Philippines.

Julita Reyes Sta. Romana, in her seminal study of the INC, said that by the 1950s, the church was recruiting from 10,000 to 15,000 converts a year. The 1990 Census of Population and Housing places the number of Iglesia members at 1.4 million, three times more than its membership in 1970.

By 2002, the INC has members among overseas Filipinos as well and says it has churches in 66 countries, including 39 in the United States, 23 in Asia, 15 in Europe, 11 in Australia and Oceania, and eight in Africa.

But it is not numbers alone that make the INC such an influential church today. The Iglesia commands strict obedience from its members. It votes as a bloc, and its leaders are wooed by politicians eager for support.

As explained in the May-June 1986 issue of the INC’s official publication, Pasugo: “The Church of Christ observes unity even in electing public officials (Philippians 2:2:3; I Corinthians 1:10). This is not to interfere with politics, but in obedience to God’s commandment. This unity is never betrayed by a true member of the church of Christ, even if some would be displeased.”

By 2002, INC claims to have 2 million members of voting age, although pollster Felipe Miranda believes that the actual figure is closer to 1 to 1.5 million.

At the national level, this bloc is a strategic swing vote, especially in multiparty electoral contests for the Senate. It is a swing vote for the presidential race as well, but only if there are multiple candidates. At the local level, especially in Luzon, the Iglesia command vote could determine the fate of a candidate.

For sure, the Roman Catholic Church itself has exerted its influence on government as well. The INC’s actions in fact mirror what the Catholics have done. It can even be said that the INC’s political activism is a reaction to the Catholic Church hierarchy’s active political involvement, then as now. - PCIJ, July 2015