{"id":60762,"date":"2015-09-05T20:14:48","date_gmt":"2015-09-05T12:14:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=60762"},"modified":"2015-09-05T20:14:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-05T12:14:48","slug":"palace-denies-incs-claims-asserts-no-special-attention-on-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/09\/05\/palace-denies-incs-claims-asserts-no-special-attention-on-probe\/","title":{"rendered":"Palace denies INC\u2019s claims, asserts no special attention on probe"},"content":{"rendered":"
\",\u201d<\/a>
Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio \u201cSonny\u201d Coloma Jr.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 The Malaca\u00f1ang Palace denied Iglesia Ni Cristo\u2019s (INC) claims that the \u2018extraordinary attention\u2019 given on the criminal charges filed against the church\u2019s Sanggunian was due to the religious group\u2019s reluctance to support the administration\u2019s candidate in next year\u2019s national elections.<\/p>\n

Although undisclosed, INC was apparently referring to President Benigno \u201cNoynoy\u201d Aquino III\u2019s preferred successor, Interior Secretary Manuel \u201cMar\u201d Roxas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were breaking the unity of the INC. When it became evident that the administration candidate would not get support, they looked for a way to break us,\u201d INC member Ferdinand Topacio said, adding that this prompted the church\u2019s protest last week.<\/p>\n

The Malaca\u00f1ang, however, quickly denied INC\u2019s claims and asserted that the government had no involvement in the ongoing division in the said church.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The administration] is firmly committed to upholding the rule of law without fear or favor, unfettered by political considerations,\u201d\u00a0Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio \u201cSonny\u201d Coloma Jr. said in a Philippine Daily Inquirer report.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe reiterate that the government does not interfere in the internal affairs of any legitimate organization. We have conveyed to the INC that these are guiding principles informing all actions of government,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Malaca\u00f1ang also assured that there will be no harassment in the case involving the INC council and that it will be treated the same way any other previous complaints were treated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe complaint filed by Mr. Isaias Samson Jr. will be treated like any other case and that we believe is the essence of fairness,\u201d Coloma said.<\/p>\n

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, for her part, stressed that she was just fulfilling her duties as the head of the Department of Justice (DOJ).<\/p>\n

\u201cMy motive always is fealty to my sworn duty. I don\u2019t have any other motive,\u201d De Lima told reporters, adding that the DOJ will start the preliminary investigation on the charges filed against the INC\u2019s Sanggunian.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] are simply implementing the standard procedures in accordance with law and this is the same procedure followed by the NPS (National Prosecution Office) in processing all complaints submitted to its offices,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Samson, who was an expelled minister and former editor-in-chief of Pasugo, filed charges of serious illegal detention, harassment and coercion against eight members of the Sanggunian\u2019s 10-member administrative council.<\/p>\n

He claimed that he and his family were prohibited from leaving their house while he was accused of being the writer behind \u201cAntonio Ebanghelista,\u201d a blogger who criticized INC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 The Malaca\u00f1ang Palace denied Iglesia Ni Cristo\u2019s (INC) claims that the \u2018extraordinary attention\u2019 given on the criminal charges …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":4050,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95,4377],"tags":[249],"class_list":["post-60762","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","category-public-probe","tag-rewrite","mauthors-cyra-moraleda","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60762\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}