Rodrigo Duterte had just won the May 2016 presidential election. At 5 am on May 26, he called one of his trusted Davao city cops, Royina Garma, to see him at his residence in Doña Luisa, Davao City. The two then drove around the city’s streets in her car in that wee hour. In the car, he asked her to begin organizing a Philippine Death Squad patterned after the extrajudicial-killing police of Davao city.

Duterte told Garma that he had one non-negotiable specific: a cop who was a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) sect must lead the national death squad. 

Duterte did not refute that account Garma had executed in her affidavit in the House quad committee hearing of October 11. The only thing he refuted later was that he did not authorize cash rewards for cops involved in the killings. Yet he corroborated one important detail in the Garma testimony: that he wanted a cop who was a member of the INC.

This writer does not find pleasure in using SMNI News as source, but that is the only interview Duterte gave and which mainstream media did not pick up. Later amplified by the website Abogado.com.ph, Duterte was quoted to have said the contradictory statement on his predilection for an INC cop: 

“Because the Iglesia ni Cristo guys, maasahan mo at ‘yang pera mo hindi masayang, hindi ibulsa, at gagastuhin ‘yan para sa project na pinapagawa mo sa kanila (You can count on them, and your money won’t go to waste, it won’t be pocketed, and it will be spent on the project you asked them to do).”

Notice the contradiction: cash for the killing cops was truly involved in his project, even if he had just denied it in the same interview.

But why the choice for the INC?

Appointing INC members to national positions is one effective way of courting the bloc-voting sect’s appreciation. Even the police general Nicolas D. Torre III, popular for the recent arrest and surrender of fugitive Apollo Quiboloy, is an INC member. The INC takes pleasure in administrations that appoint the INC’s kith and kin, and they see to it there will be ample rewards during elections.

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In the case of Duterte, however, the proclivity goes more than skin-deep. Duterte and the INC actually share a common geopolitical incline: the pivot to the People’s Republic of China. Quiboloy tried to emulate the INC template by establishing business ties with Chinese companies, particularly with his construction subsidiary, the ACQ Solomonic Builders Development Corporation.

The mammoth KJC King Dome, for example, was built using Chinese materials in collaboration with the Hangzhou-based sports firm Dafeng. Because of it, the 75,000-seat sports arena is listed by the Chinese Ministry of Culture as part of its One Belt One Road Initiative.

But the INC goes way down deeper than momentary business deals like Quiboloy’s. It actually kowtows to the policy of Sinicization requiring religious groups to align with the doctrines, customs and morality of socialist autocratic China. And the INC does it well. It has founded its presence in recent years not just among Filipinos in the coastal enclaves of Hongkong and Macau. It has expanded as well in Beijing and Shanghai. (From Rappler Archives | MAP: Where in the world is Iglesia ni Cristo?)

In Hongkong, it maintains a “lokal” in Lantau Island, its biggest congregation in China, and another lokal in Macau, all under the approval of the special administrative regional authorities of these cities. In 2016, it expanded in capital city Beijing. About two years ago, a private social media post reported on a lokal in the city of Shanghai, and featured some of its “kapatiran” (brethren).

The Facebook group INC News and Updates even uses Mandarin characters and features photos of kapatiran in Beijing. 

To demonstrate how deep and binding the ties are between the INC and China, a documentary was recently aired by the sect’s NET25 television channel that indicated China’s deep influence on the INC. NET25 showed the 75^th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party and the official military honors at Tiananmen Square.

The INC documentary basically showed a Beijing-scripted history of the CCP from Mao to Xi Jin Ping. Of course, it excluded the infamous Tiananmen Square Massacre of 1989 that gave China a massive indelible stain on its human rights standing before the world. It left several thousands dead and wounded.

Entitled “China, Red Dragon ng Asya: Aabot ba ng 100 Taon?” (China, Red Dragon of Asia: Will it reach 100 years?) it featured something astonishing that mocks Filipino foreign policy, but not necessarily of Duterte’s. 

It showed a map of China and its so-called 10-dash line that encompasses the West Philippine Sea and Scarborough Shoal, and that the final containment of all territories falling within the line (Taiwan included) is a goal of the party’s “Rejuvenation” by 2049.

The critical question arises: Which politician will accost the INC for opposing our official foreign policy?

Certainly not Rodrigo Duterte during his time. His China pivot was the INC’s too. The INC would never have questioned his human rights record either. 

As we can clearly see, they scratch each other’s backs. – Rappler.com