text:
Courts Acquit Bro. Eli for the Second Time this Year on Cases Filed by Iglesia ni Cristo Members
By Jane Abao
Manila, Philippines (5/2/2014) – In two cases filed separately on two related incidents by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo against Eliseo Soriano, the evangelist won his second round of court case. The first case filed in Marikina City was for attempted murder and spoke of an incident on September 4, 2001; the second filed in San Mateo, Rizal was for libel and zeroed in on an incident, three days after.
Soriano, who is referred to as Bro. Eli by his constituents, is the Presiding Minister of the Members Church of God International (MCGI) or Ang Dating Daan as known by the public for its flagship radio-TV program. The evangelist is now based overseas in accordance with his antipodal direction of preaching.
In an eight-page decision penned by Josephine Zarate Fernandez, Presiding Judge of the Regional Trial Court, Fourth Judicial Region, Branch 76 of San Mateo Rizal, TV Broadcaster Eliseo F. Soriano was acquitted of the charge of libel. The order signed on January 14, 2014 said that malice was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.
According to Law, malice is one of the four elements of libel that must be sufficiently satisfied for the case to succeed. The three others include: the allegation of a discreditable act or condition concerning another, publication of the charge, identity of the person defamed, and existence of malice. The absence of anyone of these elements will not make the case prosper.
The case docketed as Criminal Case No. 5957 charged Soriano for the crime of libel as punished under Article 355 of the Revised Penal Code. The complaint in part said that on the 7th day of September 2001, the evangelist, during his TV program in SBN21 located at Pasig city, uttered in particular, "Sabi nila sa akin, baka quack doctor yon, kaya galit sa akin (They told me, she may be a quack doctor and that is why she is mad at me." Subject statement referred to Dr. Nancy Nakpil Pascua, the private complainant of the case, the decision said.
On September 4, 2001 or some three days immediately before the TV program wherein Soriano allegedly uttered that statement, Pascua happened to be found with some Iglesia ni Cristo members in the house of Dr. Alberto Jimenez and his wife who belonged to the congregation of the Ang Dating Daan. With them was Bernardo Santiago, one excommunicated by Soriano for adultery and then became a member of the Iglesia ni Cristo. As alleged by Witness Rolando Ocampo, this Bernardo Santiago, a companion of private complainant Dr. Pascua, told the Jimenez couple that Soriano is "bakla," among others.
The decision ended, saying the degree of proof mandatory to establish malice was not attained. Soriano was therefore acquitted by the court.
Incidentally, in a separate case dismissed four years earlier, Bernardo Santiago of the Iglesia ni Cristo had filed a case of attempted murder against Bro. Eli Soriano and his companions. Docketed as Criminal Cases Nos. 2002-4236-MK and referring to September 4, 2001, the same date he and Dr. Pascua were visiting the Jimenez couple, private complainant Bernardo Santiago alleged that accused Soriano acted in conspiracy with the others to kill him.
According to the order dismissing the case, the prosecution presented Witnesses Glen Fernandez and Rommel Elbambuena who both heard one of the accused say, "Patayin yan! Patayin yan! Utos ni Ingkong!" (Kill him! Kill him! Order of Ingkong!) Ingkong is a monicker for Bro. Eli Soriano.
Judge Geraldine Fiel-Macaraig of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 192 of Marikina City, however, dismissed the case for insufficiency of evidence on February 11, 2010. Conspiracy was not proven.
The most recent case won by Bro. Eli and filed by Iglesia ni Cristo members was for libel but was dismissed on February 11, 2014. Ramil T. Parba as representative of the Iglesia ni Cristo along with Marianito Cayao and Bernardo Santiago, accused Eliseo Soriano and his companions, Danilo Navales, Jocel Mallari, Wilfredo Santiago and Luzviminda Cruz, of libel in Criminal Case No. Q-05-136679 for a program aired on January 21, 2005.
Soriano and his co-hosts in UNTV, after denying the allegation of the Iglesia ni Cristo that they were selling goods inside four church locales, were discussing the Supreme Court decision in People vs. Abella, G.R. No.127803, August 28, 2000 http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2000/aug2000/127803.htm
In a 15-page decision signed by Judge Jose G. Paneda of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 220 of the National Capital Judicial Region of Quezon City, Bro. Eliseo Soriano and his co-hosts at UNTV37 were acquitted of the crime of libel even when they were calling the chapel of the Iglesia ni Cristo, "killing fields" and "katayan."
Comments are considered privileged communication when the subject in question is a public figure whose calling gives the public a legitimate interest in its doings, the decision said.
Cayao and Santiago incidentally are excommunicated members of Ang Dating Daan. In all of these three cases, Bernardo Santiago figured as either as private complainant or involved.
Bro. Eli Soriano wins Case Vs. Iglesia ni Cristo: "Killing Fields" and "Katayan" Comment not Libelous
The court took cognizance of the fact that the institution the complainants represented is a public figure wherein the public has legitimate interest in its doings.
By Jane Abao
Manila, Philippines (3/8/2014) – The court is not at all convinced that there exists a case for libel when making remarks from the reading of a Supreme Court Decision over a crime committed on a public figure's grounds.
In a 15-page decision signed by Judge Jose G. Paneda of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 220 of the National Capital Judicial Region of Quezon City, Bro. Eliseo Soriano and his co-hosts at UNTV37 were acquitted of the crime of libel even when they were calling the chapel of the Iglesia ni Cristo, "killing fields" and "katayan."
Comments are considered privileged communication when the subject in question is a public figure whose calling gives the public a legitimate interest in its doings, the decision said.
The decision signed on February 11, 2014 by Judge Paneda, said there is no finding as to the liability of the accused and as to the existence of the crime of libel for failure of the prosecution to prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt, the court said.
Ramil T. Parba as representative of the Iglesia ni Cristo along with Marianito Cayao and Bernardo Santiago, accused Eliseo Soriano, Danilo Navales, Jocel Mallari, and Luzviminda Cruz, of libel in Criminal Case No. Q-05-136679 for a program aired on January 21, 2005.
The hosts of "Itanong mo kay Soriano" program at UNTV were accused of "conspiring together, confederating with and mutually helping one another with evident intent of exposing the Iglesia ni Cristo to public dishonor, discredit, contempt, and ridicule" and imputing crime on the complainants.
The court noted that the programs, Ang Dating Daan of Bro. Eli and Ang Tamang Daan of the Iglesia ni Cristo have a history of exchanging verbal tussles. And the latest was of the INC complainants making a false expose of allowing selling merchandise inside the four churches of Soriano.
Soriano and his co-hosts in UNTV denied in their program the INC allegation and said the selling was being done outside of the worship areas. The topic for the day in their program turned into which is more disrespectful: selling outside the church or killing in the basement of the chapel? They then discussed the Supreme Court decision in People vs. Abella, G.R. No.127803, August 28, 2000.
In part, the court decision said –
"The scene of the crime was within the compounds of the Iglesia ni Cristo in Sta. Ana and the basement thereof had been witness to the gruesome torture of victims who were eventually found floating in the murky rivers of Pasig.
"Private complainants took offense, more so hurt, when with the reading of the said case of Abella, accused depicted the House of Worship of the Iglesia ni Cristo as 'katayan,' the basement as killing fields, execution and torture, apparently in retaliation for the private complainant's false expose."
In sum, the court said the act of reading a Supreme Court decision is not libelous, and even with the comments and remarks of the accused, comments are considered privileged. The Case of People vs. Abella et al. where 5 PUP students were bludgeoned to death by INC members over a mere basketball game has since become a matter of public interest and therefore open to public scrutiny.
The court also took cognizance of the fact that the institution the complainants represented is a public figure wherein the public has legitimate interest in its doings.
Borrowing from the wisdom in Warren vs. Pulitzer Publishing Company, and also shared in Borjal vs. the Court of Appeals, the court said, "Every man has a right to discuss matters of interest. A clergyman with his flock, an admiral with his fleet, a general with his army, a judge with his jury. We are, all of us, the subject of public discussion….. It is only in despotism that one must speak sub rosa, or in whispers, with bated breath, around the corner, or in the dark on a subject touching the common welfare…"
The court also took note that when accused Eliseo Soriano peppered the members of the Iglesia ni Cristo with cases of libel in 2005 for calling him names like "Dayukdok,: "Mandarambong, "Mongongotong, "Matakaw sa pera," "Seaman-loloko," among many other names through their program, Ang Tamang Daan, the cases were dismissed on the ground that they did not show any defamatory imputations and for lack of malice. The same was observed when the INC members distorted Soriano's speeches and commentaries.
Documentary exhibits submitted by the defense consisted mostly of video tapes and DVDs to prove consistent patterns of mangling of tapes by the Iglesia ni Cristo on statements made by Soriano. An example was when Soriano was asking for 3.6 million on January 10, 2004; the mangled tape was shown in Ang Tamang Daan aired over Net 25 on March 29, 2004 that Soriano was asking for 6 trillion.
Incidentally, private complainants Bernardo Santiago and Marianito Cayao were excommunicated by Bro. Eli Soriano from Ang Dating Daan congregation, after which they joined the Iglesia ni Cristo.
An earlier Criminal Case Nos. 2002-4236-MK for attempted murder accusing Eliseo Soriano et al. was also dismissed by Judge Geraldine C. Fiel-Macaraig of the National Capital Judicial Region, Branch 192 of Marikina City for insufficiency of evidence. This was signed four years earlier on February 11, 2010. The private complainant was Bernardo Santiago, one of the complainants in this recently dismissed libel case.
Are We Now Going to Give the Country to Bloc-Voting People?
Manila, Philippines (UPDATED April 21, 2013) – It's election time again! Are we now going to give the country to bloc-voting people?
The effects of bloc voting in the country have never been at a scale felt by those being victimized by it than now. The key here is the impact of a command of unity that leads to an exchange of favor where favor has nothing to do with truth.
Bloc voting has long been a practice germane to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) as a doctrinal concept. However, such doctrine of unity is not based on the Bible but only in Manalo's mind according to International Evangelist Eliseo Soriano, the foremost critic of that group.
Eliseo "Eli" Soriano, Presiding Minister to the Members Church of God International (MCGI) or Ang Dating Daan as more popularly known by its Radio-TV program, has been filed case after case by the Iglesia ni Cristo using members excommunicated by Soriano. These people have gone to the INC despite the radical differences in belief beginning with the deity of Christ where the latter (INC) believe he was a mere human, will remain a human, and will appear again as a human and not God.
In an article written by Bro. Eli titled The Knowledge Of Counting Is Wisdom dated July 28, 2010 in his multi-awarded blog, http://www.esoriano.wordpress.com, he traced the beginnings of national interest in this so-called religious group that has morbid interest in politics. Bro. Eli asked his countrymen to learn how to count.
He said it all began with numbers apparently faked by Felix Manalo since the 2 Million population count of the INC members is many times over the total number of Filipinos in 1953.
Such number shocked politicians right away to court their favor. Until now, their numbers game is being played by the INC and largely helped by their members in media. In 2010, a lady newsreporter of the Philippine Daily Inquirer started the myth about the INC registered voters as ranging from 5- 8 Million. Read "registered voters." That is not even talking about membership. Just with brackets, it is too big for an educated guess work. It is more of a political ploy. But with that millions, why can't they win?
Arlyn dela Cruz was identified as an INC member who apparently had quickly learned from INC history how the numbers game had helped build the empire of the Manalo's.
Asking his countrymen to learn how to count, Soriano said people are getting deceived into believing that victory in the national elections is owed to the INC bloc-voting practice. He pointed out examples where the INC failed. Here are some examples of those failed endorsements of the Iglesia ni Cristo – at the national level:
In 1992, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) endorsed Danding Cojuangco to Presidency. Danding landed only as 3rd in the final counting of votes. Six years later, in 1998, the INC supported Joseph Estrada who failed to continue his term. On May 10, 2007, Michael Defensor, Ralph Recto and Vicente Sotto were endorsed as Senators by the INC but they lost in the 2007 elections. On May 5, 2010, the INC endorsed Mar Roxas as Vice-President but he lost. Again, on May 5, 2010, Raffy Biazon was endorsed by the INC as Senator but he lost. In the same year, on July 22, 2010, the Iglesia ni Cristo supported Manny Villar for the Senate Presidency but he failed to win.
Walden Bello in 2010 wrote about local INC leaders selling promised bloc votes to local candidates in Bulacan. He was then running as a Representative for Akbayan. Or is it a command vote? Alex Magno of Philippine Star calls this more of "command votes." As practiced by the INC it is command votes, he said, "evoking sad imagery of witness voters and omnipotent political lords."
Whatever you may call it, the INC had perfected this practice by declaring candidates to support only a few days before the actual casting of votes – when the most likely candidate to win is already palpable. They then appear to have exerted some influence when the candidate wins, who usually would call in to thank them.
As discussed by Preacher Soriano, this bloc voting syndrome has affected the country as exemplified by politicians' sycophantic bestowal of favors to the Iglesia ni Cristo. There is the obvious hope of abbreviated efforts in having to troop to their chapels for endorsement during election time.
In an interview with Bro. Eli recently, this is what he said –
"It's an undeniable fact that the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) is meddling in government affairs but firstly in placing people in government. They do this in their tricky neat way of saying they helped you win by some calculations they made a few days the win is palpable. With the blessings of a command vote, the fate of the politician is sealed, tucked with a gift of promise in an exchange made in the dark.
"Even in the appointment of justices in the Supreme Court, the INC has not seen it fit to keep off – much to the dismay of the "common tao."
"If the INC is that numerous that can assure the victory of a candidate, logic dictates that they, given the chance, will want to directly govern the country.
"Why until now are they afraid of fielding their own candidate for a national position, like an INC candidate for senator or vice president or president? The reason is that if their very own (INC) candidates lost, the people and their candidates will discover the truth or the one nearest to the truth: the paltry or insignificant total membership of the INC. This can prove that they are not as numerous as they claim.
"How? It is due to their injunction that a member that will not vote for a chosen candidate will automatically be excommunicated according to their book, 'Ministerial Code and Ethics." See?"
It is not a secret that candidates for elections beginning with the president troop to the chapels of the Iglesia ni Cristo. Public news have it that politicians are asked what they can contribute to this church group – before elections or after.
The INC is also known for their job-placement efforts for their members much akin to fraternity systems, the knowledge of which attracts those looking for work, and not for their belief. Matthew Guba was one who did not believe in the man-Christ doctrine of the INC but he stayed on for financial support and education. He was to sell house and lot and then have commissions for school fees. Saying it was a dangerous thing to do, he planned to leave when he could already have studied and have a job.
Every July 27 of every year now is an Iglesia ni Cristo holiday. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who was also endorsed by the INC in the 2004 elections signed it into law. Marichu Villanueva of Philippine Star wrote that Arroyo admitted having asked the support of the INC for the 2004 elections but denies that there was a pay-off.
Following that, Commonwealth Avenue, the longest running street where four big Catholic churches stand, threatened to sport an INC address where Eraño Manalo Avenue would be the new name. This is by virtue of seven politicians who authored House Bill 6785which action surprised many. Delon Porcalla, writing for Philippine Star in October 13, 2009 named them as Reps. Candido P. Pancrudo, Jr (Bukidnon), Diosdado "Dato" M. Arroyo (Camarines Sur), Pedro P. Romualdo (Camiguin), Yevgeny Vicente B. Emano (Misamis Oriental), Jose S. Aquino II (Agusan del Norte), Antonio F. Lagdameo Jr (Davao del Norte), and Rommel C. Amatong (Compostela Valley). It was only a bill, however, that remained a bill. It was not acted upon.
Next, Rodante D. Marcoleta of Alagad Party List, also a member of the INC, authored HB01323, an act renaming the Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City into Eraño G. Manalo Avenue. Status? It is pending with the Committee on Public Works and Highways since August 2, 2010.
After all of these efforts failed, Wikipedia accounts show that the Quezon City government renamed what was Central Avenue to Eraño G. Manalo Avenue under Ordinance number SP-1961 S-2009 of the Quezon City Council. Chito A. Chavez, an INC reporter of Manila Bulletin was quoted as source, who in turn mentioned Ariel Inton as allegedly sponsoring such ordinance. Comelec records show that Antonio "Ariel" Inton Jr. ran for Mayor of Quezon City as Independent some six months before this but lost.
Julie M. Aurelio of Philippine Daily Inquirer also wrote of such proposal on September 4, 2009, also naming Councilor Ariel Inton as proponent of the new street name a few days after Eraño Manalo died.
Although Chito Chavez had reported in 2009 that there was one ordinance approved, a check with Quezon City Ordinances of 2009 reflected no such street naming by Councilor Inton but that he had been vocal about the proposal to some media men, particularly to Chito Chavez. Moreover, the ordinance mentioned by Chito Chavez in his Manila Bulletin report and picked up by many including Wikipedia and propagated as truth does not bear the name Manalo but that of a manufacturing corporation.
In the records of the Quezon City Council, 17th City Council, Ordinance number SP-1961 S-2009 is about granting authority to Hermano Oil to operate a market and the author is Eden Candy A. Medina. And yet the report of Chito Chavez of an approved ordinance has been repeated as gospel truth.
This is what the records show: Approved No: SP-1961, S-2009 Proposed No: PO2009-046. Title: AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A FRANCHISE TO HERMANO OIL MANUFACTURING AND SUGAR CORPORATION TO OPERATE THE KINGSPOINT WET AND DRY MARKET ALONG KINGSPOINT AVENUE, KINGSPOINT SUBDIVISION, BARANGAY BAGBAG, DISTRICT 2, QUEZON CITY, PROVIDED THAT NO STRUCTURE WOULD BE CONSTRUCTED ON THE ROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY. Author: EDEN CANDY A. MEDINA.
Neither do Quezon City Council Ordinances of 2008 or 2010 reflect of an approved ordinance naming a street to Eraño Manalo nor to Felix Manalo despite efforts of some politicians.
The report of Delon Porcalla said there was the previous effort of the Quezon City Councilors to name Central Avenue to INC founding bishop Felix Manalo, Eraño's father. However, Novaliches Bishop Antonio Tobias sent a letter of protest to Vice Mayor Herbert Bautista, who heads the city council, the same report said.
The fight is not over yet for a Manalo Avenue to become a reality among politicians. In February 2010, Lorelei V. Castillo in a press release for the Lower House wrote that Del R. De Guzman sought the early passage of House Bill 7102 that seeks to change the name E. Rodriguez Street from Barangay Concepcion Uno and Barangay Sto. Niño in Marikina City to Eraño G. Manalo Avenue. A few months before this, De Guzman was eyeing the office of the Mayor. He assumed office as Mayor on June 30, 2010, having won the latest election. De Guzman was a Representative of the Lower House before he ran for mayor.
If all these efforts at street-renaming for the INC Manalo's are happening in Metro-Manila and the suburbs, it is also happening in Mindanao where people are more vocal in protesting against new street names.
Nicole J. Managbanag of SunStar Cagayan de Oro wrote on July 11, 2012 about a Councilor Alvin Calingin who authored three resolutions declaring July 27, 2012 and every year thereafter as INC Day in Cagayan de Oro City, renaming the Montalvan St. as "Felix Y. Manalo St." in honor of the founder of INC; and naming the road from the junction of Concordio Diel St. and Villarin St. in Barangay Carmen to the landfill in upper Dagong up to the boundary of Barangay Canitoan as "Eraño V. Manalo St." in honor of INC's former executive minister.
Two days after, on July 13, 2012, Cong Corrales of InterAksyon.com, the online news portal of TV5, wrote about the chaos the Calingin resolutions produced. The Montalvan families who vowed to fight for the honor of their grandfather were backed up by historians and long-time residents. Bangon Kagay-anon vowed to fight these resolutions too.
Montalvan Street that Councilor Alvin Calingin wanted changed to Felix Y. Manalo St. stood in honor of Dr. Antonio Montalvan who had brothers Jesus, and Jose, who also fought the Japanese during World War II.
Corrales reported that the eldest brother Jesus served as intelligence officer in the guerrilla unit lead by Col. Wendell Fertig while Jose served as camp commander of the Philippine Auxiliary Tactical Air Group, what is now Camp Edilberto Evangelista, headquarters of the Army's 4th Infantry Division.
Dr. Antonio Montalvan, for his part, was an intelligence officer captured by the Japanese and was beheaded with other captured guerillas at the Chinese Cemetery in Tayabas, Quezon. A monument honoring them still stands at the North Cemetery, the report said.
In reacting, Councilor Calingin said that city streets get renamed often, but this did not sit well with the local residents. They called the Calingin resolutions a political stunt ahead of the 2013 elections, the report said.
The Montalvans, among them a historian named Antonio II, pointed out that it is only the National Historical Commission that is authorized by Republic Act 10066, or the National Cultural Heritage Act to approve the renaming of streets.
You would think that renaming streets after one Manalo is stupid, but here's one that surpasses it all. One hundred twenty-five years after the death of Felix Y. Manalo, here comes a Senator Juan Miguel F. Zubiri with a Senate Resolution 471 to honor the dead. The Resolution ended this way: "Be it resolved as it is hereby resolved that the Senate of the Philippines remember the 125th birth anniversary on May 10, 2011 of Ka Felix Manalo, founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo. Adopted." Whereas in the true CHURCH, the dead are believed to be dead, resting, and beyond man's reach. More so honoring one after 125 years buried in one's part of the earth, whose remains cannot hear any, is a manifestation of stupidity and ignorance in Biblical teachings.
After the Lower House, by virtue of their enterprising representatives, the Senate is involved too?
This is how far we are afraid of them. This is how far we have been taken in by the Iglesia ni Cristo.
The police are ours; the mayor is ours; the fiscal is ours. So now, where will you go? Thus bragged in topix.net a blogger belonging to this group where the leader only has to intervene in any deadlock in the affairs of the Senate and the House. And presto, the problem is solved!
Did not Juan Ponce Enrile warn of church groups meddling in the affairs of the senate lately? Did not Francis Pangilinan give up his interest in running as Senate President, claiming that the Iglesia ni Cristo is blocking his efforts? Was not the Rose Barrameda case being followed up by the the Iglesia ni Cristo?
Where did they get their guts to be doing all these interventions? From people who succumbed to their bloc voting or command votes practice. Of course! There is an exchange involved in the process – and what an exchange!
"The Iglesia Ni Cristo is a minority church that is always on the wrong side of history. It has a track record of supporting most unholy causes to pursue certain opportunistic objectives." This comes from Philip M. Lustre, writing from Manila Standard Today.
The morbid interest of the INC for critical posts in the national government is quite disturbing too and even the high courts of the land are not spared. The Supreme Court has some justices and other people therein known to have been highly recommended by the INC and cannot be said to be free from public perception of being stooges for the INC.
The same is true for the National Bureau of Investigation, and for other offices under the Office of the President. One of these is the Movies, Television, Radio Censors Board (MTRCB) where the INC cries to as its favored valid court every time their beliefs are being scrutinized. At least, that was the experience of Bro. Eli Soriano. Maria Consoliza Laguardia used to hold her fort as head censor of the MTRCB and decides matters upon the behest of the INC.
Not everyone is cowered by the INC influence, however. An enterprising young lawyer found that unconstitutional powers are being interpreted as vested in the MTRCB. James Benedict Panopio, in his analysis of the MTRCB rulings on suspension of the Ang Dating Daan (ADD) programs on TV said the INC should seek redress in the courts instead of the MTRCB. It is not a secret that litigations are highly the interest of the INC where they try to influence results, one of which is the Barrameda case, he said.
Purple S. Romero of Newsbreak took note that Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. of the Supreme Court is publicly known to have been highly recommended by the INC. Marites Vitug, in her book, Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court, gave the same observation. For three days after the publication of her book, Vitug was receiving death threats on her mobile phone, Melissa Rodgers who wrote about courageous women journalists reported. The threats stopped only after the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) wrote the President which contents were picked up by the local press. As a result of death threats, nowadays Newsbreak is more careful. It would scantily name reporters of reports.
And Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr? He was the ponente or decision writer or justice in charge of the case in the Supreme Court sustaining suspension of Ang Dating Daan upon the complaint of the Iglesia ni Cristo. "Political considerations may have come into play in the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the suspension of the religious group Ang Dating Daan's TV program according to court insiders we talked to," said Newsbreak reporters. In earlier reports, Newsbreak through Romero surmised that the ruling of the Supreme Court was to please the Iglesia ni Cristo. It was not exactly a legal reason, the report said. The report is interesting in that the dissenting justices pointed to suppression of the freedom of speech in their decision.
And Justice Velasco? Of all people, why did he not inhibit himself from the case, considering his links with the Iglesia ni Cristo? With just their endorsement, the message is clear: they expected someone to exchange favor with. And as venial as one can be, if your ambition is lying in wait for an invitation, you can be used and finally play the willing tool. But it takes two to tango.
The country is being sold to the dogs if decisions are only made to please the wiles of some people. Departures from just decisions ensure that those who disagree with one's group are muffled to the core. A case in point is Bro. Eliseo Soriano who up to the Highest Court doesn't seem to have hope for justice.
Justice is not reserved only for those who can dictate on voting because in the first place such kind of voting rapes the freedom to screen the candidate for his true worth. On the part of the candidate, he is missing the chance to be evaluated properly by individual voters. All in all, the set-up is virtually a demonic exchange for something that would make one's country and countrymen suffer later on in many forms.
The candidate-winner won't be able to feel the consequences, of course, being now ensconced in high places of personal comfort. Meanwhile people suffer first from injustice, now that the country is becoming divided into INC interests and non-INC interests.
Why so? Politicians curry their favor, even crafting resolutions such as gifting them with holidays, changing the names of important streets to names of INC leaders, chalking up memorandums of agreements. These they do to ensure their political ambitions.
How about media? They repeat what they read as truth, regardless of whether it is an INC propaganda or not. They are afraid to comment and exercise their social responsibilities; instead they help crystallize what social decay has started. As simple as applying compartmentalized justice on the streets, people are divided into who gets kid-gloves treatment and who gets sanctioned. As long as you carry those green-white- and-red stripes of the INC taken from Italian symbols, you are safe, no matter what traffic violation you made. But the traffic syndrome is just a tip of the iceberg. And yet media is quiet.
Why do we allow this?
The sinister spirit has caught up in all forms within the government system. It has been many years already embedding itself, and because we are afraid of numbers, it will remain that way.
Conrado de Quiros of Philippine Daily Inquirer could only ask, why do we allow this? Yet no one of us is responding. The numbers game – no matter how fake – has muffled our voices.
What next do we give to the Iglesia ni Cristo? The whole country?
Aurelio, Julie M. "Eraño Manalo Ave in QC proposed." Philipine Daily Inquirer 4 September 2009. Print.
Bello, Walden. "Philippine Democracy: Alive, but is it well?" Inquirer.net 11 May 2010. Web.
Castillo, Lorelei V. "Solon wants Barangay Street renamed Eraño G. Manalo Avenue." House of Representatives Press Release 26 February 2010. Web.
Chavez, Chito A. "Street in QC renamed Eraño Manalo Avenue." The Manila Bulletin 20 October 2009. Print.
COMELEC. "Certified list of candidates for congressional and local positions for the May 10, 2010 National and Local Elections, Quezon City, National Capital Region – Second District." Document. 2010. Web.
Corrales, Cong. Move to rename Cagayan de Oro street from war hero to INC founder draws flak. News. Philippines: InterAksyon.com, 2012, July 13. Web.
Cruz, Arlyn dela. "Iglesia ni Cristo endorses Aquino-Roxas tandem." Philippine Daily Inquirer 4 May 2010. Print.
Dy, Erika T. "SC Upholds MTRCB Suspension of Ang Dating Daan." Document. 2009 May. Web.
GMANews. "Commonwealth Ave nais ipangalan kay 'Ka Erdy' Manalo ng INC." GMANews 11 October 2009. Web.
Magno, Alex. "Command votes." Philippine Star 21 April 2007. Web.
Managbanag, Nicole J. "Councilors disagree over renaming of city streets." SunStar Cagayan de Oro 11 July 2012. Print.
Marcoleta, Rodante D. HB01323[History]. An act renaming the Commonwealth/Don Mariano Marcos Avenue in Quezon City, Metro Manila into Eraño G. Manalo Avenue. Government File. Philippines: Lower House, 15th Congress, 2009. Web.
Medina, Eden Candy A. SP-1961, S-200. .An Ordinance granting a franchise to Hermano Oil Manufacturing and Sugar Corporation to operate the Kingspoint wet and dry market along Kingspoint Avenue Subdivision, Barangay Bagbag, District 2, Quezon City, provided that no structure would be constructed. Republic of the Philippines, Quezon City Council, 17th City Council, 69th Regular Session. Government Files. Quezon City: Quezon City Ordinances, 2009. Web.
Porcalla, Delon. "GMA son wants Quezon City Avenue renamed." Philippine Star 13 October 2009. Print.
Quiros, Conrado de. "Why do we allow this?" Philippine Daily Inquirer 23 May 2012. Print.
Rodgers, Melissa. "Vitug undeterred by ongoing legal battle with Supreme Court Justice." Courage in Journalism Awards. IWMF.Org. 2011. Web.
Rufo, Aries. "SC sustains suspension of Ang Dating Daan." Newsbreak 30 April 2009. Web.
Villanueva, Marichu. "GMA: Opposition behind Iglesia payoff rumors." Philippine Star 30 May 2004. Print.
Virola, Dr. Romulo A. Where to go, for voters or for worse? Column. Makati City, Philippines: National Statistics Development Board, 2010 May 11. Web.
Vitug, Marites Danguilan. Shadow of Doubt: Probing the Supreme Court. Philippines: Public Trust Media Group Inc 2010. Print.
Wikipedia. "Eraño Manalo, Recognition." Biography. 2013, April 20. Web.
Zubiri, Juan Miguel F. "Remembering the 125th Birth Anniversary on May 10, 2011 of Ka Felix Manalo, Founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo." Resolution. 2011. Document.
An Open Letter from a GMA7 Stockholder
UPDATE: On August 28, 2011, this stockholder came to ADDPublications and submitted this letter which he had sent to Atty. Felipe L. Gozon in 2009. Noting that GMA News had maliciously replayed Case Unclosed Paninirang Puri after two years in August 2011 despite public outcry for unfair treatment, he had requested that this letter be published but with his name withheld. Since the letter raised strong points, we are publishing it here. Take note, Boycott GMA 7 News TV 11 is a sustained boycott and now has more than 32,000 supporters. – Admin
July 27, 2009
Atty. Felipe L. Gozon
Chairman, President and CEO
GMA Network, Inc.
Diliman, Quezon City
Subject: Case Unclosed, hosted by Arnold Clavio
Dear Mr. Chairman,
I am a small shareholder of GMA 7 network. I want to reach to the program – Case Unclosed hosted by Mr. Arnold Clavio aired sometime in the middle of June 2009. Mr. Chairman, my letter is long, but please have patience in reading it. As the stockholder of GMA 7, I have the right to express my sentiment. This letter contains some verifiable clarifications regarding Bro. Eli Soriano.
The airing of the case of Daniel Veridiano on the program Case Unclosed on GMA 7 betrays your claim of "walang kinikilingan, walang pinoprotektahan." By so doing, it seems the Network just did the opposite. Pardon me Sir, but as a lawyer, you know what sub judice is. GMA 7 committed a big blunder and irreparable damage in showing the segment of Case Unclosed. It does not speak well of GMA 7. The Network's credibility was put at stake, and unfortunately, permanently lost the patronage of the Members Church of God International (MCGI) members. It must be noted that in every month, worldwide membership of this Church is increasing by the hundreds if not thousands. Members Church of God International come from all strata of society, from different religious organizations, and from various disciplines.
It is very saddening to note Mr. Chairman that GMA 7 allowed itself to be used by unscrupulous and influential people. (But no amount of money and influence can suppress divine truth.) GMA 7 glamorized a case that was fabricated. Mr. Arnold Clavio made a fool of himself in hosting that segment of Case Unclosed, and subsequently disgraced GMA Network, Inc… The honorable people behind GMA 7 may also have been affected. There is not a grain of truth in the case. The people cuddling Mr. Veridiano known very well that the case they filed in the court is a fruit of their imagination.
If only GMA 7 took pains in checking the background of Mr. Daniel Veridiano. Mr. Veridiano is a pervert and a low life. He was expelled from MCGI due to immoral acts. Mr. Chairman, which is more credible, the testimony of his 18 young male victims or his own denial? Mr. Veridiano also embezzled large amount of money entrusted to him when he was still with the Ang Dating Daan (ADD).These things were admitted by him thru his own confessions taken by video and from a letter of his own handwriting. Now Sir, is this the kind of person GMA Network, Inc., a vast and esteemed organization, gambled its credibility and reputation? As a stockholder of GMA 7, I am concerned also with the business affairs of GMA 7, especially if it deviates from its role of upholding integrity and responsible delivery of news and information (as contained in the 2008 Annual Report). At this instance case, the rights of an innocent person – Bro. Eli Soriano, was deliberately violated.
A few years back, when Ces Drilon and Luchi Cruz made biased reports about Bro. Eli Soriano on their programs on Channel 2, members of MCGI shifted patronage to GMA7. For sure, this move contributed the No. 1 rating of GMA 7. But now what Arnold Clavio has done to Bro. Eli is even worse. There is not any chance Bro. Eli can repute allegations made on Case Unclosed, because of sub judice. Mr. Clavio seems to have forgotten also one Filipino value, which is "may pinagsamahan." It might also be better for him to remove the word "Igan" placed between his name.
Setting aside "crab mentality" Sir, what do you think of Bro Eli Soriano, as host of "Itanong mo kay Soriano, Biblia ang Sasagot," broadcasting daily at UNTV? If there are Manny Pacquiao, Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda who made the Filipinos proud, there is also Bro. Eli Soriano who is silently making waves among diverse people around the world.
This make us Filipinos proud also of Bro. Eli Soriano, and supportive of him (not fabricate things to destroy him). His Bible Expositions here and abroad are overflowing with people. The same is true with the hundreds of e-mails he receives every day. The achievements of Manny, Charice and Arnel will soon fade away, but the teachings of Bro. Eli will also remain engraved in the hearts of men. The number of God fearing Christian converts will also continue to increase a thousand folds, and this is a continuing process.
No doubt, Bro. Eli Soriano is the most sensible preacher today. He is blessed and guided by God. No head of any religious organization dared to engage Bro. Eli to a friendly debate. Anywhere in the world, nobody can do what Bro. Eli is doing, not even any Filipino. He has a ready answer to every question being asked to him, be it biblical, scientific or about family and health problems.
But the most important thing of all is, Bro. Eli changed the lives of thousands of people he came across with. People, who are wicked and usually engaged in many forms of vices, including hardened criminals, mended their sinful ways and now converted to be God-fearing Christians. Even skeptics, nonbelievers and some Muslims cannot disagree but believe in the teachings of Bro. Eli Soriano.
Ang Dating Daan or The Old Path is now being broadcast in almost all countries around the world via satellite and thru internet. Coordinating centers of Ang Dating Daan are sprouting, not only in different parts of the Philippines, but in many places and cities in Asia, Australia, Africa, Canada, North and South America, the Middle East, the Caribbean and some parts of Europe. Most recently, large groups of natives of Brazil, Ghana-Africa and Papua New Guinea became members of Church of God International. These people, which are of different races, have not seen but only heard Bro. Eli Soriano.
The various project of Bro. Eli for the service of mankind, is open knowledge. To mention a few, he has the free college education, free MRT ride for senior citizens, free medical clinic, transient homes, "libreng sakay," free legal services, and many others. Bro. Eli does not stop helping people, physically and spiritually, and unmindful of the enormous risk of his own life. Bro. Eli devoted his entire life propagating the words of God. He incurred indebtedness in millions of pesos due to the magnitude of his work. His ultimate aim of global evangelization is now being gradually realized.
Now, Mr. Chairman, what remedy can GMA Network, Inc. do to repair the damage done to Bro. Eli Soriano, and to win back the patronage of the Members Church of God International? And simultaneously, restore the tarnished image and credibility of GMA 7, and maintain its No. 1 rating? It's now your intelligent move, Mr. President. Lastly, thank you Sir for rendering my long letter.
Very truly yours,
(My name is intentionally omitted Sir, for my own protection.)
Mr. Gilberto R. Duavit, Jr.
Mr. Joel Marcelo G. Jimenez
Mr. Felipe S. Yalong
Ms. Anna Teresa M. Gozon-Abrogar
Ms. Judith D. Vasquez
Ms. Laura J. Westfall
Mr. Artemio V. Panganiban
Mr. Jaime C. Laya
Atty. Roberto O. Parel
Mr. Miguel C. Enriquez
Mr. Dick B. Perez
Mr. Marissa L. Flores
Ms. Ianessa S. Valdellon
Ms. Mel Chanco
Mr. Arnold Clavio
Kotawinters' Less Traveled Road in Summary 2011
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here's an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 55,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
For Irresponsible Reporting: Ang Dating Daan Boycotts GMANews Anew
By Jane Abao
Manila, Philippines (8/23/2011) – To boycott is to punish. After two years GMANews has not learned its lesson. Its habit for biased and irresponsible reporting cannot anymore pass without giving them a wake up call. It has been slapped with a massive boycott throughout the country from Ang Dating Daan (ADD) until the network renders a public apology to its victim, Bro. Eli Soriano, or better still to settle things with a public debate. This is as far as the organization of Bro. Eli is concerned.
Bro. Eli is the Presiding Minister to the Members Church of God International (MCGI) or Ang Dating Daan (ADD) as more popularly known.
The sustained boycott of the international organization began on August 7 and is way on to its third week. For a network that doesn't favor truth, members deleted Channels 7 and 11 in their TV programs.
BACKGROUND. Way back on June 18, 2009, GMA 7 aired a controversial interview with a self-confessed serial rapist named Daniel "Puto" Veridiano. http://kotawinters.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/ang-dating-daan-blasts-gma7-self-branding-as-house-of-truth/ Puto was excommunicated from the ADD by Bro. Eli upon the recommendation of a fact-finding committee. He was found guilty of various sex offenses as well as of misappropriation of church funds in August 2004.
In response, Puto filed a rape case of two counts against Bro. Eli but which cases were dismissed. He said that he had been raped in 2000 and 2001 but evidences presented by Bro. Eli laid the accusations as baseless and tainted with malice even from the beginning. Puto got affiliated with the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), the arch enemy of the ADD, after failing in his appeal to be restored.
In the court, the investigating prosecutor found no probable cause to prosecute the crusading preacher as he believed Puto's accusations were fabricated. Bro. Eli was able to present his evidences. The case was filed sometime before October 5, 2005 and was dismissed on January 26, 2006. It was penned by Alejandro Lopez, Asst. Provincial Prosecutor and approved by Jesus Magarang, Provincial Prosecutor of the Province of Pampanga, San Fernando City. The court highly considered the rift going on between the INC and the ADD.
By a twist of fate, the dismissed case found itself again in the court of the Secretary of Justice Raul M. Gonzalez which was under the Office of the then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Public reports bare that Arroyo was openly backed up by the influential Iglesia ni Cristo during both 2004 and 2007 elections by virtue of its practice of bloc voting.
POLITICS AND POWER. Bloc voting affords the INC power when politicians they endorsed get elected, as invariably reported by media. It is not a secret that politicians from the time of Felix Manalo, founder of the INC, make a bee line to this organization to seek endorsement. This practice, according to Bro. Eli, breeds corruption in the country beginning with the justice system. No one gets a fair share of justice whenever the INC is involved. They follow up cases and intervene to their favor, instilling a chilling effect on justices in the country. From here, corruption seeps into other systems affecting almost every level that it is hard for one to be brave and talk. This is quite apparent when dissenting justices are hard to come by whenever the INC is interested in a case.
TALK AND TRUTH. Talk may what got Bro. Eli into trouble in the first place. He is very brave in exposing anomalies, but being a preacher, what he cannot stop doing is telling what should be told. The Bible, according to him, requires him to tell all that is required of him to tell. Truth is his commodity, no matter what. The whole Bible must be preached, he said. And in this instance the INC is part and parcel of the side that Bro. Eli has to constantly be talking about. For that, they had filed case after case against him, and now he becomes "rapist" by virtue of a true rapist he had dismissed from his organization.
But talk is not what Bro. Eli would do as expected by GMA 7. They had wanted him to tell his side in the case that Puto had filed. In other words, in the guise of giving news, GMA has become intrusive in a case where it believes someone innocent had his reputation besmirched, never knowing anything about the real Puto. Paninirang Puri means character assassination.
Whatever was the game plan of GMA for insisting that the preacher talk, they went on air discussing fully the side of the accuser, thereby side-stepping the rights of the other. "Have they not heard of the principle of sub judice?" Bro. Eli would ask. The crusading preacher underscored that the case is back in court again, and an accused is not supposed to talk about it. Re-filed no matter by interested persons, Bro. Eli was respecting it. But the media outfit obviously did not know what sub judice meant. They wanted him to talk and get revenues from the crowd that GMA 7 would generate. This was June 18, 2009.
THE REPLAY. On August 3, 2011, after more than 2 years, GMANews through Channel 11 again replayed the same controversial interview at a noon time show. The ADD were taken unaware and piqued that the man who used to be their brother but excommunicated was there on TV recanting his imagined rape many years ago. Puto is known to most church workers and his behavior is not a secret to the members. While he had confessed to having abused 9 of his subordinates and had said sorry to them on air, he is there on TV and playing victim again. Known for love of money which he splurges on expensive gadgets and jewelries, and some holidays on beaches instead of attending church services, Puto talking on TV and playing innocent merely reminds the members that he needs again money to sustain his minted face and gay lifestyle. And someone is making him play that role for pay.
HELPING PROPAGATE LIES. Puto would now be talking about faking signatures as a norm in ADD, a practice of his that he had abused to amass church money. He had underscored this in the interview to claim that his confession to having sexually abused 9 of his victims is fake – no matter that in his video testimony, he can be seen there talking fair and square, damning the INC which he said he would never join. And now Puto is with the INC. He had quickly forgotten that he had volunteered to make this confession which he made good with a written piece. Puto was bidding for a second chance to be restored his membership by Bro. Eli but he failed. http://kotawinters.wordpress.com/2009/05/25/warning-more-hateblogs-against-bro-eli-soriano/letter/.
In YouTube, his victims that could not win their cases fairly could only talk about Puto's penis to register familiarity with his wayward organ. The liar in Puto was ignored by GMANews however, and preferred to see him as an innocent INC convert, never wondering about his sudden shift from believing in Christ as God to believing that He is mere man. In the INC, Christ is mere man from the beginning and would come back as mere man. Nothing was seen as irregular with Puto but everything was with Bro. Eli who now has become the "rapist" and Puto is the "victim." The ADD who know very well the life style and character of both accuser and accused felt violated. http://jakeastudillo.wordpress.com/tag/daniel-veridiano/. Truth is on trial and liars are having a heyday. Another boycott became the call of the day.
FACEBOOK AND TWITTER USED AS CALLSITES. In response to this heap of lies being propagated through the help of a giant TV network, ADD called for another round of boycott on August 7, 2011, this time a bolder, more sustained one. In 2009, Bro. Eli only mentioned about boycott one week after the members were egging him on this initiative. This time, he was aghast and he wanted a quick response from the members to this insult. It would tie down his work at a time new doors are being opened for his overseas ministry and new contracts are being signed for broadcast propagation in other parts of the globe. The year 2011 would be a different boycott and now Facebook and Twitter are colored with protest GMANews picbadges. Day by day, tweets and messages are about GMANews and sympathizers are contributing their stories about GMA and its falsified ratings. More posts about faking expose GMANews as opposite to what it claims.
Some quarters in ADD believe that GMA's morbid interest in hitting the crusading preacher is all about the ratings game. It has aired this controversial interview twice already in two years time. In its struggle to become the Number 1 in terms of viewership, GMANews may be interested in getting the attention of ADD's millions of members. In the past, other stations have attempted to do that also. Whenever Bro. Eli is the topic, traffic is really thick. Headquarters says 2011 will however be different for GMANews unless it apologizes for what it did, or answer to a debate challenge.
RECKLESSNESS OR WEAKNESS. It is not so much the ire on Puto whom ADD members know as rapist that got the goat. It is GMANews for its blatant display of abuse of power of the air. It is reckless for not having done enough research before reporting. Or it is weak for having been influenced by some group. According to Bro. Eli, it is very obvious that GMA is being used to attack him. It is harassment already while he is at work. The case had been dismissed for lack of evidence. It was re-filed only by interested persons and the documents were passed on to Raul Gonzalez of the Department of Justice under the Office of the then President Gloria Arroyo, who, herself, was endorsed by the INC, a stooge by all counts in the eyes of the ADD.
These and the other connections between accuser and accused were ignored by the interviewer, Arnold Clavio, host of Case Unclosed – Paninirang Puri (Character Assassination).
CONNECTIONS IGNORED. The connection between accuser Puto and accused Bro. Eli which is the ADD from where the accused was excommunicated. The connection between accuser and accused which is the Iglesia ni Cristo where the excommunicated went to. The connection between the ADD and the INC which is contention for what is true. What were the things Bro. Eli was saying that the INC would like to stop at all costs? Bookmark from here, yet there is much that the Case Unclosed – Character Assassination of GMANews had ignored to look into. And yet, it maliciously replayed the controversial 2009 interview after two years.
Daniel Razon, the Vice Presiding Minister, and nephew of Bro. Eli was a morning show anchor together with Arnold Clavio in GMA7. In June 2005, Razon said he was asked to choose between his God and his career by GMA7 and he chose the former. So, was Razon a result of collateral damage in the ADD-INC rift? http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/manila-bulletin/mi_7968/is_2005_June_16/daniel-razon-resigns-gma-7/ai_n34040262/.
What about Arnold Clavio whom Razon has many times over eclipsed in their career as show anchors? Wasn't he a willing tool in this controversial set-up? Clavio cannot dump Razon in the race for popularity now. The latter is many plaques and awards and projects ahead of Clavio that Clavio's being a tool for others is water-clear.
A journalist truly looking for truth would wonder why the boys that Puto had sexually abused were not able to have their cases represented fairly and why dismissed. A responsible journalist truly interested in airing the truth and nothing but the truth may even discover why the case was dismissed, why it was re-filed, and who were behind the re-filing if he did his work. He may even discover why the justices never mentioned these connections in their ponente but only one or two from dissenting justices. A good-nosed journalist may even pursue the angle why the prosecutors that give Bro. Eli as accused a fair judgment and a dismissal were shortly relieved and changed for another in such short times. Why this rigodon of prosecutors? To manipulate court decisions?
FOR SHAME. Instead of doing its work and faithfully serving the public, GMANews is only sensitive to what people think of it as in playing and replaying brand names and attaching to itself constructs of truth, trust, objectivity. Over the years it had said its media staff are trustworthy, a finding they said from a lop-sided research that was more of selling their network as credible. Recently, in one of its videos posted in Facebook, GMA Network boasts about its sexiest women saying "8 out of the top 10 FHM Philippines 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011 are from GMA," clearly marketing their looks that do not match their work. FHM means For Him Magazine that caters exclusively to the male gender. https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=137745762971699.
Have shame, even a pinch of it, says Bro. Eli, whom they have victimized for reckless reporting. Instead of standing for the good, and encouraging those helping the society like Bro. Eli is doing in his many humanitarian projects, they choose to play in their work or be manipulated by the powers that be and strike at their fellow broadcaster in the field. Bro. Eli had been serving this network for a number of years and they may have forgotten even that.
Compared with Bro. Eli who works for the salvation of men in foreign lands without country and without home, but without neglecting to serve millions of homeless and disadvantaged Filipinos with his many projects, the media men of GMA worry more about their make-up, their attire, their props, their advertisements and self-branding and prefer to display gyrating women, senseless telenovelas, time-wasting games that promise false prosperity, and fight to the death to cover events where they can make more money. Or imitate innovations of other TV stations like UNTV but only on a shallow level. As ADD asserts, Bro. Eli, popularly known as Truthcaster, does not sell his deep understanding of the Bible and instead shares it with everyone in order for them to return to God. In effect, what could have been liabilities to the country are turned assets, one thing that GMA has failed to do and notice.
Does GMA Network like norms? No, it do not like rules. It has a world of its own, which explains why it is not even part of KBP and is foolishly proud of it.
THE CHALLENGE OF ADD. Before closing Case Unclosed, Arnold Clavio in the vernacular said, "Although Bro. Eli Soriano insists that these accusations against him are all lies, his appearance and facing the case is hoped to clear the questions left unanswered." Clearly it is easy to prepare scripts, cut here and there, and then sew them up to make an episode. But GMA is forgetting that this is something legal and that Bro. Eli is already a victim of human rights from a case dismissed and then re-filed. Overlooking this, GMA made a script to inflict another round of violated human rights. And it did for the second time in two years.
Since GMA is intrusive and is even interested in fomenting intrigues and spreading gossip, the ADD challenges GMA to prepare a forum for a debate between Bro. Eli and GMA. If it fails to do this, then GMA should better prepare a forum for a debate between Bro. Eli and the Iglesia ni Cristo. This debate will once and for all settle who is telling the truth and who is not, and will expose the wicked man. The topic has to deal with truth. According to the Bible and as believed by ADD, the wicked cannot understand. It is to be remembered that the INC never responded to a call of the preacher in March 2005 for a debate. http://jakeastudillo.wordpress.com/2011/08/28/the-face-of-war-preacher-on-exile-dares-powerful-nemesis-to-finally-debate/
For the security of each one, the debate should be televised even internationally. This debate is even many times educational and worthy to be watched than what normally is GMA's interest. If GMA can do this, then the sustained boycott may be lifted. If GMA remains adamant, the sustained boycott may resort to greater measures to send a message that it will not take things sitting down.
What the Dissenting Judges Wrote: Bro. Eliseo Soriano Vs Laguardia, MTRCB on Speech
The following is an update on the case of Bro. Eli Soriano versus Ma. Consoliza Laguardia and the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB). It begins with the preacher's account with a snippet from TOP magazine. It then leads to Erika T. Dy's news on Supreme Court's en banc decision, and Newsbreak Purple S. Romero's voting report of the Supreme Court on the case. The focus is on the dissenting opinions of two justices: Justice Roberto A. Abad and Justice Antonio T. Carpio.The dissenting opinions carry facts of the case which can update the reader.
Dissent means that judges that do not agree with the majority may write their own dissenting opinions to state their views.
MTRCB suspended Bro. Soriano's television broadcasts after the same religious group, the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), had filed practically the same complaints about the use of harsh words by Bro. Soriano or alleged "bad words" and defamation against the INC. Soriano contested the suspensions at the high court, complaining that the MTRCB violated his constitutional right to free religion, speech, and expression.
"The statements were merely in response to the detestable conduct of the ministers of the Iglesia ni Cristo hosting a television program entitled, Ang Tamang Daan," he said.
In taking Ang Dating Daan off the air, the MTRCB cited Section 3 of Presidential Decree 1986, granting the Board the power to screen, review, and examine all movie and TV programs and to delete materials that it deems morally offensive.
But Soriano countered that Section 3c of PD 1986 "is unconstitutional in so far as it sanctions the censorship of religious TV programs as a form of subsequent punishment." [SOURCE: THE OLD PATH MAGAZINE. Vol. 1 No. 3 | 2005. http://www.angdatingdaan.org/publications/pub_top_2.htm%5D
After four years, this report came out -
The Supreme Court en banc, in an 11-4 vote, upheld the three-month suspension imposed by the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board on the TV program Ang Dating Daan, aired on UNTV 37, after its host, petitioner Eliseo S. Soriano, was found to have uttered offensive and obscene remarks during its August 10, 2004 broadcast.
The majority, in a consolidated decision, speaking through Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr., held that the suspension is not a prior restraint, but rather a "form of permissible administrative sanction or subsequent punishment." In affirming the power of the MTRCB to issue an order of suspension, the majority said that "it is a sanction that the MTRCB may validly impose under its charter without running afoul of the free speech clause." [Source: Erika T. Dy. SC Upholds MTRCB Suspension of Ang Dating Daan. Supreme Court of the Philippines. April 30, 2009.]
A researcher from Newsbreak had provided a capsule report of the voting of the High Court on this issue as follows –
How the Supreme Court decided on
Soriano v. Laguardia; Soriano v. MTRCB
(on the suspension of "Dating Daan" preacher for uttering profanities on air against the Iglesia ni Cristo)
Why is it important: The case raised questions on what constitutes prior restraint.
The SC upheld the 3-month suspension of Dating Daan host Eliseo Soriano, who uttered profanities against the religious sect Iglesia ni Cristo on his show.
The Movie and Television Review Classification Board first slapped Soriano with a 20-day preventive suspension upon preliminary probe. It then issued a 3-month suspension against Soriano after he was found guilty of expressing obscenities on air.
The majority ruled that it is within the powers of the MTRCB to issue a preventive suspension.
However, those who dissented, which included Chief Justice Reynato Puno, said that the sanction will extend to Soriano's future speech, and thus would constitute prior restraint.
How they voted: De Castro concurred with the decision. Carpio and Carpio-Morales dissented. Brion and Corona voted to dismiss the petition. [Research by Purple S. Romero. Newsbreak.com]
Here come now the excerpts from Law Monitor of the Supreme Court showing the dissenting opinions of Justice Roberto A. Abad and Justice Antonio T. Carpio.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Supreme Court Decisions and Resolutions March 2010
G.R. No. 164785/G.R. No. 165636. March 15, 2010
Eliseo F. Soriano Vs. Ma. Consoliza P. Laguardia, etc. et al./Eliseo F. Soriano Vs. Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, et al.
Dissenting Opinion
J. Carpio, J. Abad
This is The DISSENTING OPINION OF JUSTICE J. ABAD [Source: http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/march2010/164785_abad.htm%5D
G.R. No. 164785 — ELISEO F. SORIANO, Petitioner, versus MA. CONSOLIZA P. LAGUARDIA, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, MOVIE AND TELEVISION REVIEW AND CLASSIFICATION BOARD, JESSIE L. GALAPON, ANABEL M. DELA CRUZ, MANUEL M. HERNANDEZ, JOSE L. LOPEZ, CRISANTO SORIANO, BERNABE S. YARIA, JR., MICHAEL M. SANDOVAL and ROLDAN A. GAVINO, Respondents.
G.R. No. 165636 — ELISEO F. SORIANO, Petitioner, versus MOVIE AND TELEVISION REVIEW AND CLASSIFICATION BOARD, ZOSIMO G. ALEGRE, JACKIE AQUINO-GAVINO, NOEL R. DEL PRADO, EMMANUEL BORLAZA, JOSE E. ROMERO IV, and FLORIMONDO C. ROUS, in their capacity as members of the Hearing and Adjudication Committee of the MTRCB, JESSIE L. GALAPON, ANABEL M. DELA CRUZ, MANUEL M. HERNANDEZ, JOSE L. LOPEZ, CRISANTO SORIANO, BERNABE S. YARIA, JR., MICHAEL M. SANDOVAL and ROLDAN A. GAVINO, in their capacity as complainants before the MTRCB, Respondents.
March 15, 2010
x —————————————————————————————- x
I am submitting this dissent to the ably written ponencia of Justice Presbiterio J. Velasco, Jr. that seeks to deny the petitioner's motion for reconsideration of the Court's decision in the case.
Brief Antecedent
Petitioner Eliseo F. Soriano, a television evangelist, hosted the Ang Dating Daan, a popular television ministry aired nationwide everyday from 10:00 p.m. to midnight over public television. The program carried a "general patronage" rating from the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).
The Ang Dating Daan's rivalry with another religious television program, the Iglesia ni Cristo's Ang Tamang Daan, is well known. The hosts of the two shows have regularly engaged in verbal sparring on air, hurling accusations and counter-accusations with respect to their opposing religious beliefs and practices.
It appears that in his program Ang Tamang Daan, Michael M. Sandoval (Michael) of the Iglesia ni Cristo attacked petitioner Soriano of the Ang Dating Daan for alleged inconsistencies in his Bible teachings. Michael compared spliced recordings of Soriano's statements, matched with subtitles of his utterances, to demonstrate those inconsistencies. On August 10, 2004, in an apparent reaction to what he perceived as a malicious attack against him by the rival television program, Soriano accused Michael of prostituting himself with his fabricated presentations. Thus:
"….gago ka talaga Michael. Masahol ka pa sa putang babae. O di ba? Yung putang babae ang gumagana lang doon yung ibaba, kay Michael ang gumagana ang itaas, o di ba! O, masahol pa sa putang babae yan. Sabi ng lola ko masahol pa sa putang babae yan. Sobra ang kasinungalingan ng demonyong ito…"
Michael and seven other ministers of the Iglesia ni Cristo lodged a complaint against petitioner Soriano before the MTRCB. Acting swiftly, the latter preventively suspended the airing of Soriano's Ang Dating Daan television program for 20 days, pursuant to its powers under Section 3(d) of Presidential Decree 1986 and its related rules.
Petitioner Soriano challenged the validity of that preventive suspension before this Court in G.R. 164785. Meanwhile, after hearing the main case or on September 27, 2004, the MTRCB found Soriano guilty as charged and imposed on him a penalty of three months suspension from appearing on the Ang Dating Daan program. Soriano thus filed a second petition in G.R. 165636 to question that decision. The Court consolidated the two cases.
On April 29, 2009 the Court rendered a decision, upholding MTRCB's power to impose preventive suspension and affirming its decision against petitioner Soriano with the modification of applying the three-month suspension to the program And Dating Daan, rather than to Soriano.
Issue Presented
This dissenting opinion presents a narrow issue: whether or not the Court is justified in imposing the penalty of three-month suspension on the television program Ang Dating Daan on the ground of host petitioner Soriano's remarks about Iglesia ni Cristo's Michael prostituting himself when he attacked Soriano in the Iglesia's own television program.
The Dissent
The Ang Dating Daan is a nationwide television ministry of a church organization officially known as "Members of the Church of God International" headed by petitioner Soriano. It is a vast religious movement not so far from those of Mike Velarde's El Shadai, Eddie Villanueva's Jesus is Lord, and Apollo Quiboloy's The Kingdom of Jesus Christ. These movements have generated such tremendous following that they have been able to sustain daily television and radio programs that reach out to their members and followers all over the country. Some of their programs are broadcast abroad. Ang Dating Daan is aired in the United States and Canada.
The Catholic Church is of course the largest religious organization in the Philippines. If its members get their spiritual nourishments from attending masses or novenas in their local churches, those of petitioner Soriano's church tune in every night to listen to his televised Bible teachings and how these teachings apply to their lives. They hardly have places of worship like the Catholic Church or the mainstream protestant movements.
Thus, suspending the Ang Dating Daan television program is the equivalent of closing down their churches to its followers. Their inability to tune in on their Bible teaching program in the evening is for them like going to church on Sunday morning, only to find its doors and windows heavily barred. Inside, the halls are empty.
Do they deserve this? No.
1. A tiny moment of lost temper.
Petitioner Soriano's Bible ministry has been on television continuously for 27 years since 1983 with no prior record of use of foul language. For a 15-second outburst of its head at his bitterest critics, it seems not fair for the Court to close down this Bible ministry to its large followers altogether for a full quarter of a year. It is like cutting the leg to cure a smelly foot.
2. Not obscene.
Primarily, it is obscenity on television that the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech does not protect. As the Court's decision points out, the test of obscenity is whether the average person, applying contemporary standards, would find the speech, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest. A thing is prurient when it arouses lascivious thoughts or desires or tends to arouse sexual desire.
A quarter-of-a-year suspension would probably be justified when a general patronage program intentionally sneaks in snippets of lewd, prurient materials to attract an audience to the program. This has not been the case here.
3. Merely borders on indecent.
Actually, the Court concedes that petitioner Soriano's short outburst was not in the category of the obscene. It was just "indecent." But were his words and their meaning utterly indecent? In a scale of 10, did he use the grossest language? He did not.
First, Soriano actually exercised some restraints in the sense that he did not use the vernacular word for the female sexual organ when referring to it, which word even the published opinions of the Court avoided despite its adult readers. He referred to it as "yung ibaba" or down below. And, instead of using the patently offensive vernacular equivalent of the word "fuck" that describes the sexual act in which the prostitute engages herself, he instead used the word "gumagana lang doon yung ibaba" or what functions is only down below. At most, his utterance merely bordered on the indecent.
Second, the word "puta" or "prostitute" describes a bad trade but it is not a bad word. The world needs a word to describe it. "Evil" is bad but the word "evil" is not; the use of the words "puta" or "evil" helps people understand the values that compete in this world. A policy that places these ordinary descriptive words beyond the hearing of children is unrealistic and is based on groundless fear. Surely no member of the Court will recall that when yet a child his or her hearing the word "puta" for the first time left him or her wounded for life.
Third, Soriano did not tell his viewers that being a prostitute was good. He did not praise prostitutes as to make them attractive models to his listeners. Indeed, he condemned Michael for acting like a prostitute in attacking him on the air. The trouble is that the Court, like the MTRCB read his few lines in isolation. Actually, from the larger picture, Soriano appears to have been provoked by Michael's resort to splicing his speeches and making it appear that he had taught inconsistent and false doctrines to his listeners. If Michael's sin were true, Soriano was simply defending himself with justified anger.
And fourth, the Court appears to have given a literal meaning to what Soriano said.
"Gago ka talaga x x x, masahol ka pa sa putang babae x x x. Yung putang babae ang gumagana lang doon yung ibaba, [dito] kay Michael ang gumagana ang itaas, o di ba!"
This was a figure of speech. Michael was a man, so he could not literally be a female prostitute. Its real meaning is that Michael was acting like a prostitute in mouthing the ideas of anyone who cared to pay him for such service. It had no indecent meaning. The Bible itself uses the word "prostitute" as a figure of speech. "By their deeds they prostituted themselves," said Psalm 106:39 of the Israelites who continued to worship idols after God had taken them out of Egyptian slavery. Soriano's real message is that Michael prostituted himself by his calumny against him.
If at all, petitioner Soriano's breach of the rule of decency is slight, one on a scale of 10. Still, the Court would deprive the Ang Dating Daan followers of their nightly bible teachings for a quarter of a year because their head teacher had used figures of speech to make his message vivid.
4. The average child as listener
The Court claims that, since Ang Dating Daan carried a general patronage rating, Soriano's speech no doubt caused harm to the children who watched the show. This statement is much too sweeping.
The Court relies on the United States case of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) v. Pacifica Foundation, a 1978 landmark case. Here are snatches of the challenged monologue that was aired on radio:
The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Those are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring us, God help us, peace without honor and bourbon…Also cocksucker is a compound word and neither half of that is really dirty…And the cock crowed three times, the cock—three times. It's in the Bible, cock in the Bible…Hot shit, holy shit, tough shit, eat shit, shit-eating grin…It's a great word, fuck, nice word, easy word, cute word, kind of. Easy word to say. One syllable, short u. Fuck…A little something for everyone. Fuck. Good word. x x x
Imagine how the above would sound if translated into any of the Filipino vernaculars. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the above is not protected speech and that the FCC could regulate its airing on radio. The U.S. Supreme Court was of course correct.
Here, however, there is no question that Soriano attacked Michael, using figure of speech, at past 10:00 in the evening, not at 2:00 in the afternoon. The average Filipino child would have been long in bed by the time Ang Dating Daan appeared on the television screen. What is more, Bible teaching and interpretation is not the stuff of kids. It is not likely that they would give up programs of interest to them just to listen to Soriano drawing a distinction between "faith" and "work or action." The Court has stretched the "child" angle beyond realistic proportions. The MTRCB probably gave the program a general patronage rating simply because Ang Dating Daan had never before been involved in any questionable broadcast in the previous 27 years that it had been on the air.
The monologue in the FCC case that was broadcast at 2 in the afternoon was pure indecent and gross language, uttered for its own sake with no social value at all. It cannot compare to Soriano's speech where the indecent words were slight and spoken as mere figure of speech to defend himself from what he perceived as malicious criticism.
5. Disproportionate penalty
The Court applied the balancing of interest test in justifying the imposition of the penalty of suspension against Ang Dating Daan. Under this test, when particular conduct is regulated in the interest of public order and the regulation results in an indirect, conditional, partial abridgment of speech, the duty of the courts is to determine which of the two conflicting interests demands the greater protection under the particular circumstances presented.
An example of this is where an ordinance prohibits the making of loud noises from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Can this ordinance be applied to prevent vehicles circling the neighborhood at such hours of night, playing campaign jingles on their loudspeakers to win votes for candidates in the election? Here, there is a tension between the rights of candidates to address their constituents and the interest of the people in healthy undisturbed sleep. The Court would probably uphold the ordinance since public interest demands a quiet night's rest for all and since the restraint on the freedom of speech is indirect, conditional, and partial. The candidate is free to make his broadcast during daytime when people are normally awake and can appreciate what he is saying.
But here, the abridgment of speech—three months total suspension of the Ang Dating Daan television bible teaching program—cannot be regarded as indirect, conditional, or partial. It is a direct, unconditional, and total abridgment of the freedom of speech, to which a religious organization is entitled, for a whole quarter of a year.
In the American case of FCC, a parent complained. He was riding with his son in the car at 2:00 in the afternoon and they heard the grossly indecent monologue on radio. Here, no parent has in fact come forward with a complaint that his child had heard petitioner Soriano's speech and was harmed by it. The Court cannot pretend that this is a case of angry or agitated parents against Ang Dating Daan. The complaint here came from Iglesia ni Cristo preachers and members who deeply loathed Soriano and his church. The Court's decision will not be a victory for the children but for the Iglesia ni Cristo, finally enabling it to silence an abhorred competing religious belief and its practices.
What is more, since this case is about protecting children, the more appropriate penalty, if Soriano's speech during the program mentioned was indecent and had offended them, is to raise his program's restriction classification. The MTRCB classify programs to protect vulnerable audiences. It can change the present G or General Patronage classification of Ang Dating Daan to PG or "with Parental Guidance only" for three months. This can come with a warning that should the program commit the same violation, the MTRCB can make the new classification permanent or, if the violation is recurring, cancel its program's permit.
This has precedent. In Gonzales v. Katigbak, the Court did not ban the motion picture just because there were suggestive scenes in it that were not fit for children. It simply classified the picture as for adults only. By doing this, the Court would not be cutting the leg to cure a smelly foot.
I vote to partially grant the motion for reconsideration by modifying the three-month suspension penalty imposed on the program Ang Dating Daan. In its place, I vote to raise the program's restriction classification from G or General Patronage to PG or with Parental Guidance for three months with warning that should petitioner Soriano commit the same violation, the classification of his program will be permanently changed or, if the violation is persistent, the program will be altogether cancelled.
Associate Justice
[1] Creating the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.
[2] Webster's Third New International Dictionary, p. 1829.
[3] Id. at 1274.
[4] New International Version (North American Edition); see other biblical passages that use "prostitute" as a figure of speech: Judges 2:17; 8:27; 8:33; 1Chronicles 5:25; and Leviticus 20:5.
[6] 222 Phil. 225 (1985).
Finally, this is The DISSENTING OPINION OF JUSTICE CARPIO [ Source: http://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/jurisprudence/2010/march2010/164785_carpio.htm%5D
G.R. Nos. 164785 and 165636 – ELISEO F. SORIANO, Petitioner, – versus – MA. CONSOLACION P. LAGUARDIA, in her capacity as Chairperson of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board, MOVIE AND TELEVISION REVIEW AND CLASSIFICATION BOARD, JESSIE L. GALAPON, ET AL., Respondents.
March 15, 2010
Liberty is a right that inheres in every one of us as a member of the human family. When a person is deprived of his right, all of us are diminished and debased for liberty is total and indivisible.
Among the cherished liberties in a democracy such as ours is freedom of expression. A democracy needs a healthy public sphere where the people can exchange ideas, acquire knowledge and information, confront public issues, or discuss matters of public interest, without fear of reprisals. Free speech must be protected so that the people can engage in the discussion and deliberation necessary for the successful operation of democratic institutions. Thus, no less than our Constitution mandates full protection to freedom of speech, of expression, and of the press. All of the protections expressed in the Bill of Rights are important, but the courts have accorded to free speech the status of a preferred freedom. This qualitative significance of freedom of expression arises from the fact that it is the indispensable condition of nearly every other freedom.
The freedom of expression clause is precisely a guarantee against both prior restraint and subsequent punishment. It protects from any undue interference by the government the people's right to freely speak their minds. The guarantee rests on the principle that freedom of expression is essential to a functioning democracy and suppression of expression leads to authoritarianism.
Prior restraint has been defined as official governmental restrictions on any form of expression in advance of actual dissemination. But the mere prohibition of government interference before words are spoken is not an adequate protection of the freedom of expression if the government could arbitrarily punish after the words have been spoken. The threat of subsequent punishment itself would operate as a very effective prior restraint.
Any form of prior restraint bears a presumption against its constitutional validity. The burden is on the censor to justify any imposition of prior restraint, not on the censored to put up a defense against it. In the case of print media, it has been held that just because press freedom may sometimes be abused does not mean that the press does not deserve immunity from prior restraint. The settled rule is that any such abuse may be remedied by subsequent punishment.
This Court, in Eastern Broadcasting Corporation v. Dans, Jr., laid down the following guideline:
All forms of media, whether print or broadcast, are entitled to the broad protection of the freedom of speech and expression clause. The test for limitations on freedom of expression continues to be the clear and present danger rule – that words are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that the lawmaker has a right to prevent.
Chief Justice Fernando expounded on the meaning of the "clear and present danger" test in Gonzalez v. Chairman Katigbak, to wit:
The test, to repeat, to determine whether freedom of expression may be limited is the clear and present danger of an evil of a substantive character that the State has a right to prevent. Such danger must not only be clear but must also be present. There should be no doubt that what is feared may be traced to the expression complained of. The causal connection must be evident. Also, there must be reasonable apprehension about its imminence. The time element cannot be ignored. Nor does it suffice if such danger be only probable. There is the requirement of its being well-nigh inevitable.
Where the medium of a television broadcast is concerned, as in the case at hand, well-entrenched is the rule that censorship is allowable only under the clearest proof of a clear and present danger of a substantive evil to public safety, public morals, public health, or any other legitimate public interest.
One of the established exceptions in freedom of expression is speech characterized as obscene. I will briefly discuss obscenity as the majority opinion characterized the subject speech in this case as obscene, thereby taking the speech out of the scope of constitutional protection.
The leading test for determining what material could be considered obscene was the famous Regina v. Hicklin case wherein Lord Cockburn enunciated thus:
I think the test of obscenity is this, whether the tendency of the matter charged as obscenity is to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such immoral influences, and into whose hands a publication of this sort may fall.
Judge Learned Hand, in United States v. Kennerly, opposed the strictness of the Hicklin test even as he was obliged to follow the rule. He wrote:
I hope it is not improper for me to say that the rule as laid down, however consonant it may be with mid-Victorian morals, does not seem to me to answer to the understanding and morality of the present time.
Roth v. United States laid down the more reasonable and thus, more acceptable test for obscenity: "whether to the average person, applying contemporary community standards, the dominant theme of the material taken as a whole appeals to prurient interest." Such material is defined as that which has "a tendency to excite lustful thoughts," and "prurient interest" as "a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion."
Miller v. California merely expanded the Roth test to include two additional criteria: "the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct specifically defined by the applicable state law; and the work, taken as whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value." The basic test, as applied in our jurisprudence, extracts the essence of both Roth and Miller – that is, whether the material appeals to prurient interest.
The present controversy emanated from the alleged splicing of a video recording wherein petitioner was supposedly made to appear as if he was asking for contributions to raise 37 trillion pesos instead of the allegedly true amount of 3.6 million pesos. The video was played by ministers of Iglesia ni Cristo in their television program "Ang Tamang Daan."
In response, petitioner Eliseo Soriano, as host of the television program "Ang Dating Daan," made the following utterances:
Bro. Josel Mallari:
Ulit-ulit na iyang talagang kawalanghiyaan na iyan, naku. E, markado nang masyado at saka branded na itong nga ito anong klase po sila. Wala kayong babalikan diyan Kapatid na Manny. Iyang klase ng mga ministro na iyan, pasamain lamang si Kapatid na Eli e pati mga ninakaw na tape, pati mga audio na pinag-edit-edit, lalagyan ng caption para makita nila, maipakita nilang malinaw 'yung panloloko nila. Kasi Sis. Luz, puwede mo nang hindi lagyan ng caption e, patunugin mo na lang na ganun ang sinasabi. Pero talagang para mai-emphasize nila 'yung kanilang kawalanghiyaan, lalagyan pa nila ng caption na hindi naman talagang sinabi ni Bro. Eli kundi pinagdugtong lang 'yung audio.
Bro. Eli Soriano:
At saka ang malisyoso. Kitang-kita malisyoso e. Paninirang-puri e. Alam mo kung bakit? Mahilig daw ako talagang manghingi para sa aking pangangailangan. Pangangailangan ko ba 'yung pambayad sa UNTV e ang mga kontrata diyan ay hindi naman ako kapatid na Josel.
Bro. Josel Mallari:
Ay, opo.
Bro. Eli Soriano:
Hindi ko kontrata iyang babayaran na iyan. I am not even a signatory to that contract. Pagkatapos para pagbintangan mo ako na humingi ako para sa pangangailangan ko, gago ka talaga Michael. Masahol ka pa sa putang babae. O, di ba? Yung putang babae ang gumagana lang doon yung ibaba, kay Michael ang gumagana ang itaas, o di ba! O, masahol pa sa putang babae yan. Sabi ng lola ko masahol pa sa putang babae yan. Sobra ang kasinungalingan ng mga demonyong ito. Sige, sumagot kayo. At habang ginaganyan ninyo ako, ang mga miyembro ninyo unti-unting maliliwanagan. Makikita n'yo rin, magreresulta ng maganda iyan.
Bro. Manny Catangay Jusay:
Bro. Eli, ay iyan nga po ang sinasabi ko e, habang gumagawa sila ng ganyan, gaya nung sinabi nung Kapatid natin kagabi dahil napanood 'yung kasinungalingan ni Pol Guevarra, ay, lumuluha 'yung Kapatid, inaanyayahan 'yung mag-anak niya. Magsialis na kayo diyan. Lipat na kayo rito. Kasi kung nag-iisip lang ang isang Iglesia ni Cristo matapos ninyong mapanood itong episode na ito, iiwanan ninyo e, kung mahal ninyo ang kaluluwa ninyo. Hindi kayo paaakay sa ganyan, nagpafabricate ng mga kasinungalingan. Sabi ko nga lahat ng paraan ng pakikipagbaka nagawa na nila e, isa na lang ang hindi 'yung pakikipagdebate at patunayan na sila ang totoo. Iyon na lang ang hindi nila nagagawa. Pero demanda, paninirang-puri – nagtataka nga ako e, tayo, kaunting kibot, nakademanda sila e. 'yung ginagawa nila, ewan ko, idinedemanda n'yo ba Bro. Eli?
The majority opinion ruled that the highlighted portion of the aforequoted speech was obscene and was, therefore, not entitled to constitutional protection.
Well-settled is the rule that speech, to be considered obscene, must appeal to prurient interest as defined in Roth and firmly adopted in our jurisdiction. The subject speech cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to appeal to any prurient interest. The highlighted portion of the verbal exchange between the two feuding religious groups is utterly bereft of any tendency to excite lustful thoughts as to be deemed obscene. The majority's finding of obscenity is clearly untenable.
In contrast, a radio broadcast of a monologue replete with indecent words such as shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits, has been held protected speech depending on the context relating to the time of broadcast. However, in this case before us, the words "putang babae" (female prostitute), and the descriptive action phrases "ang gumagana lang doon yung ibaba" and "kay Michael ang gumagana ang itaas" were enough to constitute outright obscenity for the majority. The majority opinion simply forced these words and phrases into a strained standard formula for censorship. But such overbroad standard must be struck down for it indiscriminately infringes upon free speech.
The subject speech in this case may, at most, be considered indecent speech.
Indecent speech conveyed through the medium of broadcast is a case of first impression in our jurisdiction. However, this issue has been settled in American case law, which has persuasive influence in our jurisprudence. There, the rule is that indecent speech is protected depending on the context in which it is spoken. The concept of what is "indecent" is intimately connected with the exposure of children to language that describes, in terms patently offensive, as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory activities and organs, at times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience.
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation is the landmark U.S. case on the regulation of indecent speech in broadcast. The case involved a radio broadcast of "Filthy Words," a 12-minute monologue by American stand-up comedian and social critic, George Carlin. Appended to the decision is the following verbatim transcript prepared by the Federal Communications Commission:
The original seven words were, shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker, and tits. Those are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring us, God help us, peace without honor and a bourbon. And now the first thing that we noticed was that word fuck was really repeated in there because the word motherfucker is a compound word and it's another form of the word fuck. You want to be a purist, it can't be on the list of basic words. Also, cocksucker is a compound word and neither half of that is really dirty. The word-the half sucker that's merely suggestive and the word cock is a half-way dirty word, 50% dirty-dirty half the time, depending on what you mean by it. Uh, remember when you first heard it, like in 6th grade, you used to giggle. And the cock crowed three times, the cock-three times. It's in the Bible, cock in the Bible. And the first time you heard about a cock-fight, remember-What? Huh? It ain't that, are you stupid? It's chickens, you know, Then you have the four letter words from the old Angle-Saxon fame. Uh, shit and fuck. The word shit, uh, is an interesting kind of word in that the middle class has never really accepted it and approved it. They use it like, crazy but it's not really okay. It's still a rude, dirty, old kind of gushy word. They don't like that, but they say it, like, they say it like, a lady now in a middle-class home, you'll hear most of the time she says it as an expletive, you know, it's out of her mouth before she knows. She says, Oh shit oh shit, oh shit. If she drops something, Oh, the shit hurt the broccoli. Shit. Thank you.
Shit! I won the Grammy, man, for the comedy album. Isn't that groovy? That's true. Thank you. Thank you man. Yeah. Thank you man. Thank you. Thank you very much, man. Thank, no, for that and for the Grammy, man, [']cause that's based on people liking it man, that's okay man. Let's let that go, man. I got my Grammy. I can let my hair hang down now, shit. Ha! So! Now the word shit is okay for the man. At work you can say it like crazy. Mostly figuratively, Get that shit out of here, will ya? I don't want to see that shit anymore. I can't cut that shit, buddy. I've had that shit up to here. I think you're full of shit myself. He don't know shit from Shinola. you know that? Always wondered how the Shinola people felt about that Hi, I'm the new man from Shinola, Hi, how are ya? Nice to see ya. How are ya? Boy, I don't know whether to shit or wind my watch. Guess, I'll shit on my watch. Oh, the shit is going to hit de fan. Built like a brick shit-house. Up, he's up shit's creek. He's had it. He hit me, I'm sorry. Hot shit, holy shit, tough shit, eat shit. shit-eating grin. Uh, whoever thought of that was ill. He had a shit-eating grin! He had a what? Shit on a stick. Shit in a handbag. I always like that. He ain't worth shit in a handbag. Shitty. He acted real shitty. You know what I mean? I got the money back, but a real shitty attitude. Heh, he had a shit-fit. Wow! Shit-fit. Whew! Glad I wasn't there. All the animals-Bull shit, horse shit, cow shit, rat shit, bat shit. First time I heard bat shit, I really came apart. A guy in Oklahoma, Boggs, said it, man. Aw! Bat shit. Vera reminded me of that last night. Snake shit, slicker than owl shit. Get your shit together. Shit or get off the pot. I got a shit-load full of them. I got a shit-pot full, all right. Shit-head, shit-heel, shit in your heart, shit for brains, shit-face. I always try to think how that could have originated; the first guy that said that. Somebody got drunk and fell in some shit, you know. Hey, I'm shit-face. Shit-face, today. Anyway, enough of that shit. The big one, the word fuck that's the one that hangs them up the most. [']Cause in a lot of cases that's the very act that hangs them up the most. So, it's natural that the word would, uh, have the same effect. It's a great word, fuck, nice word, easy word, cute word, kind of. Easy word to say. One syllable, short u. Fuck. You know, it's easy. Starts with a nice soft sound fuh ends with a kuh. Right? A little something for everyone. Fuck Good word. Kind of a proud word, too. Who are you? I am FUCK, FUCK OF THE MOUNTAIN. Tune in again next week to FUCK OF THE MOUNTAIN. It's an interesting word too, [']cause it's got a double kind of a life-personality-dual, you know, whatever the right phrase is. It leads a double life, the word fuck. First of all, it means, sometimes, most of the time, fuck. What does it mean? It means to make love. Right? We're going to make love, yeh, we're going to fuck, yeh, we're going to fuck, yeh, we're going to make love. we're really going to fuck, yeh, we're going to make love. Right? And it also means the beginning of life, it's the act that begins life, so there's the word hanging around with words like love, and life, and yet on the other hand, it's also a word that we really use to hurt each other with, man. It's a heavy one that you have toward the end of the argument. Right? You finally can't make out. Oh, fuck you man. I said, fuck you. Stupid fuck. Fuck you and everybody that looks like you man. It would be nice to change the movies that we already have and substitute the word fuck for the word kill, wherever we could, and some of those movie cliches would change a little bit. Madfuckers still on the loose. Stop me before I fuck again. Fuck the ump, fuck the ump, fuck the ump, fuck the ump, fuck the ump. Easy on the clutch Bill, you'll fuck that engine again. The other shit one was, I don't give a shit. Like it's worth something, you know? I don't give a shit. Hey, well, I don't take no shit, you know what I mean? You know why I don't take no shit? [']Cause I don't give a shit. If I give a shit, I would have to pack shit. But I don't pack no shit cause I don't give a shit. You wouldn't shit me, would you? That's a joke when you're a kid with a worm looking out the bird's ass. You wouldn't shit me, would you? It's an eight-year-old joke but a good one. The additions to the list. I found three more words that had to be put on the list of words you could never say on television, and they were fart, turd and twat, those three. Fart, we talked about, it's harmless. It's like tits, it's a cutie word, no problem. Turd, you can't say but who wants to, you know? The subject never comes up on the panel so I'm not worried about that one. Now the word twat is an interesting word. Twat! Yeh, right in the twat. Twat is an interesting word because it's the only one I know of, the only slang word applying to the, a part of the sexual anatomy that doesn't have another meaning to it. Like, ah, snatch, box and pussy all have other meanings, man. Even in a Walt Disney movie, you can say, We're going to snatch that pussy and put him in a box and bring him on the airplane. Everybody loves it. The twat stands alone, man, as it should. And two-way words. Ah, ass is okay providing you're riding into town on a religious feast day. You can't say, up your ass. You can say, stuff it!
Worthy of note, in Pacifica, the FCC did not resort to any subsequent punishment, much less any prior restraint. The station was not suspended for the broadcast of the monologue, which the U.S. Supreme Court merely considered indecent speech based on the context in which it was delivered. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, the monologue would have been protected were it delivered in another context. The monologue was broadcast at 2:00 p.m., when children were presumptively in the audience.
A later case, Action for Children's Television v. FCC, establishes the safe harbor period to be from 10:00 in the evening to 6:00 in the morning, when the number of children in the audience is at a minimum. In effect, between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., the broadcasting of material considered indecent is permitted. Between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., the broadcast of any indecent material may be sanctioned.
In this case, the subject speech by petitioner was broadcast starting 10:00 p.m. onwards, clearly within the safe harbor period as established in Action for Children's Television. Correctly applying Pacifica's context-based ruling, petitioner's speech, if indeed indecent, enjoys constitutional protection and may not be sanctioned. The rule on this matter, as laid down by Pacifica in relation to Action for Children's Television, is crystal-clear. But should the majority still have any doubt in their minds, such doubt should be resolved in favor of free speech and against any interference by government. The suspension of "Ang Dating Daan" by the MTRCB was a content-based, not a content-neutral regulation. Thus, the suspension should have been subjected to strict scrutiny following the rule in Chavez v. Gonzales. The test should be strict because the regulation went into the very heart of the rationale for the right to free speech – that speech may not be prohibited just because government officials disapprove of the speaker's views.
Further, the majority opinion held that even if petitioner's utterances were not obscene but merely indecent speech, they would still be outside of the constitutional protection because they were conveyed through a medium easily accessible to children. The majority misapplied the doctrine of FCC v. Pacifica, the leading jurisprudence on this matter. Pacifica did not hold that indecent speech, when conveyed through a medium easily accessible to children, would automatically be outside the constitutional protection. On the contrary, the U.S. Supreme Court emphasized the narrowness of its ruling in Pacifica. The guideline that Pacifica laid down is that the broadcast of a monologue containing indecent speech could be considered protected or unprotected depending on the context, that is, the time of the day or the night when the indecent utterances were delivered.
The majority's ruling in this case sets a dangerous precedent. This decision makes it possible for any television or radio program, on the slightest suspicion of being a danger to national security or on other pretexts, to likewise face suspension. The exacting "clear and present danger" test is dispensed with to give way to the "balancing of interests" test in favor of the government's exercise of its regulatory power. Granting without conceding that "balancing of interests" is the appropriate test in setting a limitation to free speech, suspension of a television program is a measure way too harsh that it would be inappropriate as the most reasonable means for averting a perceived harm to society. The restriction on freedom need not be greater than is necessary to further the governmental interest.
The "balancing of interests" test requires that a determination must first be made whether the necessary safeguarding of the public interest involved may be achieved by some other measure less restrictive of the protected freedom. The majority immediately resorted to outright suspension without first exploring other measures less restrictive of freedom of speech. It cites MTRCB v. ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation in justifying the government's exercise of regulatory power. But the ABS-CBN case involved a mere fine as punishment, not a prior restraint in the form of suspension as in this case. In the cited case, one of the episodes of "The Inside Story," a television program of ABS-CBN, was aired without prior review and approval by the MTRCB. For this omission, the MTRCB subsequently fined ABS-CBN in the amount of P20,000. However, even as the television station was fined, the program continued to be aired and was never suspended.
Indeed, prior restraint by suspension is an extreme measure that may only be imposed after satisfying the "clear and present danger" test, which requires the perceived danger to be both grave and imminent. Prior restraint is simply uncalled for in this case where what is involved is not even obscene speech, but mere indecent speech. Note too, that the subject utterances in this case were broadcast starting 10:00 p.m. onwards, well within the safe harbor period for permissible television broadcast of speech which may be characterized as indecent.
Suspension of the program stops not only petitioner, but also the other leaders of his congregation from exercising their constitutional right to free speech through their medium of choice, which is television. The majority opinion attempts to assuage petitioner's misery by saying that petitioner can still exercise his right to speak his mind using other venues. But this proposition assumes that petitioner has access to other venues where he may continue his interrupted exercise of free speech using his chosen mode, television broadcast.
While we may not agree with petitioner's choice of language in expressing his disgust in this word war between two feuding religious groups, let us not forget that freedom of speech includes the expression of thoughts that we do not approve of, not just thoughts that are agreeable. To paraphrase Voltaire: We may disapprove of what petitioner has said, but we must defend to the death his right to say it.
The three-month suspension cannot be passed off merely as a preventive suspension that does not partake of a penalty. The actual and real effect of the three-month suspension is a prior restraint on expression in violation of a fundamental constitutional right. Even Congress cannot validly pass a law imposing a three-month preventive suspension on freedom of expression for offensive or vulgar language uttered in the past. Congress may punish such offensive or vulgar language after their utterance, with damages, fine, or imprisonment; but Congress has no power to suspend or suppress the people's right to speak freely because of such utterances. In short, Congress may pass a law punishing defamation or tortious speech but the punishment cannot be the suspension or suppression of the constitutional right to freedom of expression. Otherwise, such law would be abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press. If Congress cannot pass such a law, neither can respondent MTRCB promulgate a rule or a decision suspending for three months petitioner's constitutional right to freedom of speech. And of course, neither can this Court give its stamp of imprimatur to such an unconstitutional MTRCB rule or decision.
I end this dissenting opinion with a reminder from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes – that the market place of ideas is still the best alternative to censorship. The market place of ideas makes freedom of speech robust and allows people to be more tolerant of opposing views. It has been said that freedom of speech is not only to freely express oneself within the context of the law but also to hear what others say, that all may be enlightened, regardless of how obnoxious or erroneous the opposing views may be.
Accordingly, I vote to GRANT the motion for reconsideration.
Associate Justice
[1] Ordonez v. Director of Prisons, G.R. No. 115576, 4 August 1994, 235 SCRA 152.
[2] Simone Chambers, Deliberation, Democracy, and the Media, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2000, p. xi.
[3] Id. at 3.
[4] Constitution, Article III, Section 4.
[5] Blo Umpar Adiong v. Commission on Elections, G.R. No. 103956, 31 March 1992, 207 SCRA 712.
[6] Joaquin Bernas, S.J. Constitutional Rights and Social Demands, Notes and Cases Part II, 2004. pp. 284-285.
[7] Social Weather Stations, Inc. v. Commission on Elections, 409 Phil. 571 (2001); Iglesia ni Cristo v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 119673, 26 July 1996, 259 SCRA 529 citing Near v. Minnesota, 283 U.S. 697 (1931).
[8] 222 Phil. 151.
[9] 222 Phil. 225.
[10] Id.
[15] Gonzales v. Chairman Katigbak, supra note 9.
[16] Rollo, G.R. No. 164785, pp. 148-153.
[17] Gonzales v. Chairman Katigbak, supra note 9; Pita v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 80806, 5 October 1989, 178 SCRA 362; Fernando v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 159751, 6 December 2006, 510 SCRA 351.
[18] FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978).
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] On 21 February 1975, the Federal Communications Commission issued a declaratory order granting the complaint and holding that Pacifica "could have been the subject of administrative sanctions." The Commission did not impose formal sanctions, but it did state that the order would be "associated with the station's license file, and in the event that subsequent complaints are received, the Commission will then decide whether it should utilize any of the available sanctions it has been granted by Congress."
[22] 58 F.3d 654 (1995).
[23] G.R. No. 168338, 15 February 2008, 545 SCRA 441.
[24] See the dissenting opinion of Chief Justice Reynato Puno in this case. Soriano v. Laguardia, G.R. No. 164785, 29 April 2009.
[25] Social Weather Stations, Inc. v. Commission on Elections, supra note 7.
[26] Thomas Emerson, Towards a General Theory of the First Amendment, 72 Yale Law Journal 877 (1963).
[27] 489 Phil. 544 (2005).
[28] Gonzales v. Commission on Elections, No. L-27833, 137 Phil. 471 (1969).
[29] Dissenting Opinion of Justice Holmes in Abrams v. United States, 250 U.S. 616, 40 S. Ct. 17, 63 L. Ed. 1173 (1919).
[30] Ruben Agpalo, Philippine Constitutional Law, 2006, p. 330.
Much Maligned Preacher Wins Over Distinguished Author in International Open Web Awards
A victim of religious persecution and disinformation, the preacher exiles himself to continue preaching in South America. Deprived of his own home country, he started blogging to aid his preaching. His truth blog makes a mark among the counted in Mashable International – one that did not pay attention to disinformation that scattered all over the Internet.
By Jake Astudillo
Manila, Philippines, (01/18/2010) – If things are played fair, we can always win. These were the words of the man for whom justice had long been elusive.
Bro. Eliseo Soriano, Filipino preacher on exile, felt vindicated by an award given him by an international social media site that did not pay attention to disinformation about him scattered all over the Internet.
Soriano easily beat Paulo Coelho, the Portuguese famous author in the 3rd Mashable Open web awards competition of 2009.
Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com, in an e-mail to Ang Dating Daan or The Old Path, the congregation lead by Soriano said, http://www.esoriano.wordpress.com takes its place among the top 50 websites and services of the year, having won the 'Most Educational to Follow' category in the Open Web Awards 2009.
Cashmore said the Mashable team, dealt with over 440,000 nominations with over 70,000 nominees and over 780,000 votes for the recent Open Web Awards. Mashable.com, an international social media site, partnered with Motorola this year to bring the 3rd Annual Open Web Awards: Social Media Edition. Reports show that past winners of this international competition include YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and iGoogle, to name a few.
In terms of written works, and literary reputation, Soriano is no match to Paulo Coelho.
Coelho began blogging in 2003, four years ahead of Soriano. Coelho could write as much as 186 in a month. It was in 2007 that that he jacked up his batting average, the same time that Bro. Soriano just opened his blog. By competition time, Coelho had written 3, 224. He also had forums on the spiritual or biblical just like the preacher. Coelho had 219,056 followers and 5,743 were listed. Soriano did not reflect his number of followers.
Apparently, it was not quantity of posts that mattered in the competition. Bro. Soriano posted a measly number: 117 posts from April 2007 to December 2009. The most that he could write in a month was 26 in July 2007 since his work involved traveling to the untamed regions of South America to preach. His blog, however, is pregnant with interaction, mostly on issues of truth.
Coelho's forums included questions like the following: Do you think man is intrinsically bad? Do you think sex is dominating the human civilization? Do you think you're following your personal legend? How do you interpret Adam's experience? What do you think about reincarnation? Why are we born if we have to die? These were some of his forums.
Meanwhile, the posts of Preacher Soriano include: Will God Contradict Himself? Not everything is Possible with God. God is Not Everywhere. Perfect Justice in God's Perfect Time. Karl Marx's Unwise Definition of Religion. The Covenant on the Fleshy Tables of the Heart. The Imprudent Freedom to Question Free Will.
While Coelho's posts remained pondering over many things, Soriano was assertive – just with the Bible as his reference.
There are bizarre similarities between Soriano and Coelho. Both of them were born in the same year. Paulo Coelho was born August 24, 1947 (1947-08-24) (age 62) while Eliseo Soriano was born April 7, 1947 (age 62). Both of them are from the same place in the same continent – South America to be exact. They dealt closely about the same topics.
The difference, however, between them is great. Coelho is a distinguished author. Soriano is unschooled formally. Though fearless, the preacher is much maligned and persecuted. To this day, he had exiled himself in order to continue preaching worldwide. Justice in the Philippines to him was scant and not within reach. Moreover, many bad things were written about Soriano.
The preacher's bio in Wikipedia appears more as a list of accusations than a description of the man. They were the result of his work as preacher where he had to do the things no one wants to do: tell the truth and nothing but. None had the guts to expose false teachings and defend truth as Soriano does. Called the most sensible preacher of our time, his audience had evolved from just the Filipinos to include other nationalities.
Coelho therefore was made famous for his literary works. Soriano on his part was popularized by vicious media out to get his neck for things he had said against powerful groups. They were able to attach "rape" to his name, as is the practice of some bent on destroying a personality.
Reports on Coelho show that he radically wrote from the other side of truth. His first book was Hell Archives. In 1985, he contributed to the Practical Manual of Vampirism and the following year, he wrote The Pilgrimage. In 1987, he wrote The Alchemist. This is the book that got Coelho famous. It was translated in 68 languages, and published in 150 countries, winning the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author. The novel exploited the theme of looking for one's dream in other lands only to find it in one's home.
The backpage of the novel, "The winner stands alone" written by Coelho says Coelho was named United Nations Messenger of Peace in 2007.
In contrast, Soriano was not schooled by the universities of men. He studied by himself with just the bible as his book. He grew up to be a principled preacher and the most learned man when it comes to biblical matters. In debates, no one could beat him.
For 45 years preaching the word of God, he had become an expert on matters of Christian living and salvation that his preaching had changed many lives. Known as the nemesis of false preachers, he had attracted many enemies far and wide. One by one, anyone claiming to be appointed by God to prophesy, much more to be the son of God, Soriano would challenge and expose. Later on, he would reap many cases filed in court due to his mouth. Nevertheless, he feared no one as long as truth was involved, no matter that people tore him to pieces. He remained as "appointed messenger of God" to millions of those who believed in his preaching due to his unequalled understanding of biblical truth, reaping another moniker, "Truthcaster." Today, he maintains a program by that name.
A book review on The Alchemist, Coelho's famous book, said, "Perhaps this is the secret of Coelho's success: that he tells people what they want to hear, or rather that he tells them what they wish for but never thought possible could even be probable." In contrast, Soriano is about telling the truth, no matter how bitter.
Preacher Soriano had disappeared from his own country in 2005 but like a turtle thrown to the water, he appears through satellite systems still preaching to the world. Religious persecution forced him to use as much technology as possible. He continued on with his work of preaching to the consternation of his enemies. They declared to the public that his congregation had dissolved while he, in turn, ran away from crimes – all of which were lies peddled by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) members led by Rizalino L. Arrabis, a retired US Navy man based in Guam.
Bro. Eli as he is called, had difficulties then in residence. In 2007, he started his blog, using it to further his preaching purposes and to reach out to those asking questions. It is this blog, http://www.esoriano.wordpress.com that had won as the most educational to follow in the 3rd Mashable Open web awards competition of 2009.
Soriano was fair game to Philippine media with connections to those whose interests were being risked. He was humiliated by them who were able to post his bio in the Interpol's wanted list. Soriano had excommunicated a self-confessed rapist, Daniel "Puto" Veridiano, from his congregation but the rapist joined the forces of the powerful INC. In the end, the tables were turned: Soriano is being accused as the rapist ("sex crimes") while the rapist turns the complainant with all the support of the INC in tow.
With malice or not, the Interpol posting did more to introduce Bro. Eli to the world, thanks to the influence of his enemies in the Philippine government. It is public knowledge that the INC practiced bloc voting and had the power to make and unmake kings. As a result, while persecuting the preacher, they had ironically given him avenues to become an international evangelist in the real sense. That Interpol posting was blunted to the core. Positive media competed with disinformation and the public had more chances to evaluate who is telling the truth. That the preacher remains free to this day despite the lot of disinformation created by the INC is something truth has to answer.
In South America, many preachers had been converted to the congregation that Soriano led – the Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path). More and more lives are being converted as a result of this work. Learning of the dangers that the preacher faced, some military men promised to take care of the evangelist while he preached openly. The INC may be powerful in the Philippines but not in other countries.
Unlike Coelho, Soriano defended God and the bible, truly interpreting his role as commissioner for biblical truth. He taught the bible from cover to cover and unlocked many mysteries like one can drink from an ever-flowing spring. The preacher is an educator of a different breed that many come to his blog to ask questions of all kinds. With just the bible as his reference, Soriano is one educator unequalled of all time. Until today, there is no program in the world that equals his "Ask Soriano, the bible answers."
In tracking Mashable awards, records show that Eli Soriano was not even in the list of 500 top nominated individuals, tools, and organizations as posted by Sharon Feder. Feder said, "With just two days left in the nominations period we thought it would be appropriate to take a look at 500 of the current leaders in the competition's 50 categories each selected by you, our readers. Add your voice to this list by nominating your favorites…"
Evan as Ben Parr of Mashable announced the short list of 10 nominees to each category, Soriano's name was not there. On the other hand, Paulo Coelho was nominated in two categories: "Most Educational to Follow" and "Most Inspiring to Follow."
By the time Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable, announced the full list of finalists (the short list of 5), Esoriano.wordpress.com made it to the category of "Most Educational to Follow" while @Paulocoelho made it to "Most Inspiring to Follow." Coelho had failed to make it in the first category.
On December 16, 2009, Pete Cashmore announced the winners and Eliseo Soriano was the only name found under the category, "Most Educational to Follow." Meanwhile, for "Most Inspiring to Follow," Paulo Coelho lost to LoraAndLayton. In the end, Coelho didn't make it to either of the two categories.
A check on the site of LoraAndLayton shows that it is about "A Young Family Beating the Odds." Meanwhile, on Soriano's blog banner is written: "Celebrating 45 years of serving THE ALMIGHTY." In contrast, nothing is written in the banner of Coelho except, "Paulo Coelho's Blog."
Mashable was reported to have carefully monitored situations and discounted all votes made from "fake" or "new" Twitter accounts, especially the ones that only had references to their voting.
It was not the first time Eliseo Soriano won an award for his truth blog. On February 2009, his blog was the People's choice awardee in the 2009 Philippine Web Awards in the blog category. Moreover, that blog was the awardee for that year for the most popular website, besting all others in all categories.
If Philippine media preferred to keep distance from the preacher, it was mostly because of much ignorance about his true personality. Soriano was not concerned about what people thought of him more than he cared for his work. Media greatly ignored his existence but wrote about him in negatives. That Soriano is offering assistance to dependents of fallen journalists suddenly made great news though.
Up until now, the UNTV host maintained a dawn-to-dawn preaching with his Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) program that managed to gather more converts to his campaign to true Christianity. It is the first thing that early risers watched; it is also the last program that insomniacs watched. Outside the country, he had begun buying time from foreign stations to repeat the Philippine experience. In all, he stood as one from whom people kept asking questions from dawn to dawn. He only had one reference – the word of God.
First published in Quazen (Biography) on January 19, 2010
When Texts are Made Into Pictures: Desperate Morphing to Fool The Foolish
Intentional manipulation of data for selective perception to mislead the public and pre-judge the subject.
By Jake Astudillo
Manila, Philippines, (01/07/2010) -News is information about recent events. The reporter then is expected to relay it as objectively as he can in reproducing the event.
Videos can do the same thing but the reproduction of events is done through images. The objectivity is also expected to be there if the video is supposed to deal with information. That is the reason the images are not to be tampered with so that truth can be established.
The danger comes in when news is made into videos. As such, news is not text anymore as manipulation is done into its many parts. The structure is mangled and whatever truth it carries is morphed. It is now picture over text; however, the video comes in the guise of news. It is intentionally manipulated for selective perception to mislead the public and pre-judge the subject.
For example, some parts of the text are enlarged as the camera zooms in, and some are relegated to the background as fine print. Other elements come into play to satisfy the motive as text become pictures and put life into the otherwise neutral text. Sounds and motion complete the evil design. It is not anymore news that you watch but it gives the impression that it is so.
Being charged of a case, for example, is not equivalent to conviction. However, the author of such video cum news in the manipulation of text may mislead the public that it is so.
Take the case of the story written by Allison Lopez of the Philippine Daily Inquirer titled, "Ely Soriano charged with falsification of public document" (08/29/2008). It was made into a video presentation and is all over the Internet, planted in all possible sites like an advertisement.
The news report was very much underwritten. Much information was suppressed. And yet it was made into video.
The news reporter, Allison Lopez, could have done her work better she had exerted effort to learn more about "the raped man." Was Daniel "Puto" Veridiano really raped? Wasn't he the one who raped 14 of his officemates? Though he had admitted to only 9, many others claim Puto molested them over the years he was around. The Internet is there for Lopez to watch for some evidence, had she done her part.
Also, Allison Lopez had no background on this case that was dismissed but re-filed by Sec. of Justice Raul Gonzalez himself who is not in any way connected with the case. Lopez did not mention that. There were a lot she had suppressed.
The telltale spelling, "Ely," is an INC trademark that does not hide Allison Lopez and her connections. INC stands for Iglesia ni Cristo that cannot sleep over the many revelations of the mouth that cannot stop: the mouth of Bro. Eliseo Soriano.
And for the man whom Allison Lopez claimed had fabricated documents, all the time since 2005, he was away from his country, the Philippines. How can he fabricate any document then?
Soriano is known as the nemesis of false preachers. Earning the ire of many who wanted to make money out of religion, he had come to a dangerous level: getting himself as Wanted Person in the Interpol site, at the same time being tagged with a ridiculous crime: "Sex crimes." How that came to be is a puzzle, with so-called media men with INC connections playing the game of accuser and judge. It was only that the preacher stayed far away and went about his work in whatever forms technology could offer: He still preached via satellite wherever he was. But his enemies also worked. With him gone, they spread word that his congregation was fast dissipating but he proved them wrong.
While Soriano's enemies kept saying he was on the run, he was busy as ever, working on the war victims of South America. He beams now that although admittedly religious persecution figured in his exile, "This is the work of God; these people are hungry for God's word" he said. Claiming it was not Manalo of the INC who had caused him to go on exile, he says he does not feel bad anymore. Relating the story of Joseph who was sold by his very brothers to the Egyptians out of jealousy, he says he now understands why he had to leave for foreign shores. "Let me show you," he says and out come Latinas playing the guitar and singing Tagalog praise songs. The camera spans some more and shows hundreds of foreigners getting baptized and giving testimony to a changed life. They embrace him like hungry souls having found a gem after so long a time of famine.
The preacher had been accused of rape by one he had excommunicated and who readily went to the church group of his arch enemy. That was the pattern ever since: One gets excommunicated from The Old Path (ADD) and went straight to the INC to assume a series of legal battles. The irony is that while in The Old Path (ADD) Jesus Christ is spirit and is the wisdom of God and son of God, with the INC, Jesus is mere human being, was a human being, and will come back a human being. The jump from one belief to another is appalling.
Bro. Eli would exhort the Filipinos at home lest they be thinking of revenge: "Love your fellowmen. The accusations against me are not surprising. I have done nothing wrong to anybody. I had been helping even those who accuse me. The prophets of old had been treated the same way. Jesus Christ had been treated worse. I am less than they are, yet these things are expected."
Preacher Soriano left his country, the Philippines, in December 2005. Concentrating later his preaching on foreign shores, he had all the more enlarged the congregation of The Old Path (Ang Dating Daan) or Members Church of God International to mammoth proportions. The ever widening Convention Center in Apalit, Pampanga, north of Manila, stands to be the biggest in the whole of Asia, and every week there are baptisms all over the globe. He preaches to his people via satellite simulcast through 6 continents.
Lately, Bro. Eliseo Soriano's Truth blog (http://esoriano.wordpress.com) won in the Mashable's Open Web Awards for 2010 in the Most Educational to Follow category. It was not the first time though that this blog has earned an award. His blog was the People's choice awardee in the 2009 Philippine Web Awards in the blog category. More than that, Soriano's blog was the awardee for the most popular website, besting all others in all categories.
First posted in Newsflavor, January 7, 2010