Tomorrow, 13 January, the Iglesia Ni Cristo will gather its millions of members nationwide in a mass action called National Rally for Peace.

While the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), widely recognized as the most organized and influential religious group in the Philippines, has traditionally refrained from direct involvement in politics, this initiative is unprecedented in nature.

The mass mobilization of its entire membership to prevent what is perceived as a wrongful action constitutes a political act.

The National Rally for Peace aims to oppose an overtly partisan political maneuver by certain members of a government branch to unseat the sitting Vice President.

For that, I admire the INC’s concern for the country and the people. They saw the potential trouble that could arise if the impeachment by the selfish partisan political group allied with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) pulls through.

Correctly, Brother Eduardo Manalo, who heads the INC, saw the need to join forces with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who at the first instance of hearing about the divisive plan, called on the parties concerned to engage in productive measures instead of creating trouble and disaster, stressing that no single Filipino will benefit from the unwanted exercise.

That’s great.

Some observers, however, doubt the President’s public stance on the matter, dismissing it as mere rhetoric lacking substance. Many have expressed concerns that, with the unwavering support of political allies such as the turncoat Barbers and other representatives like Abante, Acop, Fernandez, Chua, Suarez, and others for Marcos Jr., no such ill-conceived measure is likely to materialize in the Lower House.

We appreciate the concerned Filipinos who are speaking out and expressing their thoughts. This is exactly what should happen in a democratic system like ours — we must speak and be heard.

Otherwise, our country will remain stagnant and fail to achieve the progress we all dream of.

While the President is making significant efforts to create a middle-class society, there are, as of now, no visible signs of this goal being realized.Our partisan leaders are engrossed with dole-out “ayuda,” which to my mind only promotes indolence instead of industry.

The measure is patently used to promote personal political interests which is flagrant seeing solons joining in the distribution of this ayuda malady.

The point is that the poor and not-so-poor recipients of ayuda should rather be taught to engage in production, run small businesses or other productive undertakings using the ayuda money to help them earn and adopt industry as a culture, and not be mere mendicants as they are now. Let me dwell more on this subject later.

For whatever may be the thinking of some sectors of Philippine society — some support it, some don’t, some think there is politics behind the INC act — the rally for peace is a great step toward the more active participation of Filipinos in running the government well.

Sadly, we have given too much power to the officials in government who in the first place don’t deserve to be there. They are not a few. The Lower House hearings clearly showed that we were absolutely wrong to vote for these rascals.

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