How influential Philippine church is ‘flexing its political muscle’ amid flood scandal
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The Philippines’ deepening flood-control corruption scandal has now drawn in one of the country’s most influential religious groups, with a mass mobilisation by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) church offering a revealing glimpse into the political fault lines reshaping Manila’s crisis.
The two-day gathering, which began on Sunday and drew more than half a million INC members to the capital, was officially framed as a demand for transparency and accountability over billions of pesos allegedly lost to anomalous flood-mitigation projects.
But analysts say the rally’s scale and timing signal the Christian church’s intent to test its political leverage at a moment of uncertainty, using the corruption scandal to assert its relevance as rival factions in government jostle for advantage.
“I’d like to give the INC the benefit of the doubt; the rally is a legitimate expression of grievances … However, the church’s call to action can indeed also be construed as a flexing of its political muscle,” Gino Trinidad, a politic
Read more https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3333613/how-influential-philippine-church-flexing-its-political-muscle-amid-flood-scandal
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