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News Type: Event — Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:44 AM EDT
Jane Abao
Manila, Philippines – A media man resorting to short cut methods of hitting an enemy drops the name of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to make it appear that his enemy is on the run and to alert the Interpol.
Alfred P. Dalizon, writing in World News Network on Journal online dated August 19, 2008, said that International Evangelist, Bro. Eliseo Soriano, is wanted for rape and that an international warrant of arrest is out for him. The story did not include much details but came with generic terms and did not explain how come the Interpol is suddenly in the picture. The offices he mentioned like the Philippine National Police did not even carry a single name.
In order to maintain as politically neutral a role as possible, Interpol’s constitution forbids its involvement in crimes that do not overlap several member countries. This is according to Wikipedia that quoted the constitution of Interpol. The Interpol does not also involve itself in any political, military, religious, or racial crimes.
Moreover, the work of Interpol focuses primarily on public safety, terrorism, organized crime, war crimes, illicit drug production, drug trafficking, weapons smuggling, human trafficking, money laundering, child pornography, white-collar crime, computer crime, intellectual property crime and corruption. Therefore, Dalizon or whatever group he represents, cannot merely call upon the Interpol to do things to their bidding as implied in the report he produced.
The Interpol emphatically states in their database that a Red Notice is not an international arrest warrant that Dalizon would like to have the public believe. It also gives a warning in bold letters that the person should be considered innocent until proven guilty.
Dalizon also said “the PNP noted that the Bureau of Immigration has already included Soriano in the Bureau’s watch list effective November 11, 2005.” However, a check with the office of the BI that time revealed that they had received no order from proper authorities to that effect. While Dalizon kept quoting the Philippine National Police in his report, he could only come up with just “PNP.”
Soriano is the presiding minister of the Church of God, International, more popularly known as Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path). This is, however, a multi-awarded radio and thence television program of this preacher that has been running for almost three decades. Being the head of an international church organization, the evangelist is now based in foreign countries although he reaches his Filipino audience 24 hours a day through his satellite programs. All over the world, there are locales for this church which is growing leaps and bounds.
Time and again, while the evangelist is out of the country, Philippine media is used as a weapon against him but the contents, Soriano said, are pure lies. Now and then, reports about his arrest or surrender are bannered by Philippine tabloids and picked up by TV and radio as legitimate news. In these instances, a pattern shows that media men are being used to make life difficult for him.
The style of Dalizon is the same one repeated over and over in the Philippines. The news rendition is not complete but come with generic terms and with no particular names. What are prominent are the whereabouts of the evangelist. Because they could not get Soriano killed, his enemies use the media, perchance other newspapers pick up the items and reproduce them as legitimate news. The danger, however, is that the public might be fooled – and this time, the Interpol. Dalizon reveals himself partial to the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) by saying that Soriano is a former member of this group which is not true.
The Iglesia ni Cristo is often challenged by Preacher Bro. Eliseo Soriano to defend its teachings, since it runs counter to the task of Soriano who looks at himself as having to save Filipinos from the continuing deception of the Manalos. Felix Manalo, the founder of the Iglesia ni Cristo in 1913 is succeeded by his son, Eraño Manalo whom Soriano has long been challenging to come out to a debate on television live. Manalo has not bothered to answer, however.
Due to Manalo’s silence, Soriano challenged him to a debate in March 2005 as published through Manila Times, a national broadsheet. As expected, Manalo did not come out but his ministers told Soriano over television Net 25 to debate first with the Pope who was then ill at that time and speak in Latin. Then and there, Manalo can debate with Soriano, they said.
Instead of answering to the charges of false preaching, the INC short cuts things and use media people in the guise of news scoops. Most of the time, these media people used are innocent about the tricks the INC uses and more so about the long-time feud between the INC and the Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) group that Eliseo Soriano heads.
With the same style of Dalizon, the INC ministers as anchors in their Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path) program, had been airing over Net 25 television station the usual travel routes of Soriano and encouraged the Abu Sayyaf (Moro rebels in the Philippines) to run after him. They say that on particular days, he is in San Vicente and passes by these distinct routes. For the hearing of Muslims, these ministers claim Soriano has called them killers and therefore Muslims should run after him also. It is not a secret that the INC had been using the Muslims against Soriano with some of the latter unaware of the issues. Ang Tamang Daan program (ATD) of the INC is a poor counterfeit of the successful Ang Dating Daan of Soriano that had reaped the Gawad America Award for the most informative religious program in 2006. A large portion of ATD is used to hit Soriano and spite him as the direct cause of their dwindling membership.
Dalizon’s style is the same trick applied by Rizalino L. Arrabis, most rabid defender of the INC. Over in NowPublic.com, Arrabis had been calling for people to post the phone number of Soriano, his fax number, his email address, his phone number as the preacher, he said, is wanted for rape and other crimes. He also called for the Interpol to catch what he called a criminal. For all his personal attacks, however, the site deleted all of his hundred and one posts with a warning from Rob Walker. Commenting November 14, 2007 to an article in OhmyNews International, Arrabis called Soriano the phenomenal criminal fugitive preacher and wrote “WORKINGMEN OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!!! POLICE OFFICIALS OF ALL COUNTRIES, UNITE!!! LEASH AND IMPOUND THIS RABID DOG, ELISEO SORIANO, BEFORE HE SPREADS HIS CORRUPTION.”
In World News of Journal Online, Dalizon said Soriano would likely be visiting the following places: Brazil, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. Some quarters believe Dalizon is pitching for the Interpol who may believe that they are being tipped off by proper authorities. The Interpol who are not aware of the ways of the Iglesia ni Cristo may believe the story just upon the word of the Philippine military who are INC members without verification.
This World News incident was protested over by publication editors of Soriano’s group. They demanded that World News of the Philippine Journal group of publications sanction the erring reporter who obviously did not check his details before posting. The evangelist has in his possession two evidences to counter the rape story that Veridiano filed with the courts: (1) Lipa City Youth and Cultural Center permit for the use of the premises for the Bible Exposition that Soriano held for May 17 of 2000 – the day that Veridiano claimed he was raped; and (2) Chelation Therapy Schedule by the doctors who had attended to him that day before he went to his Bible Exposition. Veridiano, alias Puto, in the case he filed with the courts, claimed that he was raped around 1:30 in the afternoon of May 17, 2000 at the Convention Center in Pampanga. At those times, the evangelist was out of the Convention Complex as he was being attended to by his doctors and then he moved on to his Bible Exposition which ended at midnight. These Bible Expositions usually take time to prepare for the public and they begin much early in the day and end at midnight.
On what Veridiano reported as a second count of rape on June 8, 2001, Soriano said he went with Rico Fernandez to the office of one Ma. Evangeline Veloira in a bank located in Bambang, Manila. They then proceeded to Sushimoto Restaurant to meet a certain Aida P. Briones, an accountant recommended by Veloira regarding the loan transaction they were applying for. The preacher is known for gallantly financing big church projects which explains the growth of the congregation to an international scope. The transaction was held from 12noon to 4pm. Veridiano said he was raped around 3:00 in the afternoon that day.
The investigating prosecutor found no probable cause to prosecute Soriano as he believed that Veridiano’s accusations were all lies and fabricated. The case that was filed sometime before October 5, 2005 was dismissed on January 26, 2006. It was penned by Alexandro Lopez, Asst. Provincial Prosecutor and approved by Jesus Magarang, Provincial prosecutor, Province of Pampanga, San Fernando City. It highly considered the rift going on between the INC and the ADD.
Veridiano only filed his complaint after some 14 of his subordinates complained to Soriano that he raped them.
The story of Dalizon that is being protested to by the editors can be found here: http://article.wn.com/view/2008/08/16/Intl_arrest_warrant_out_for_Eli_Soriano/
The tabloid version posted in People’s tonight can be read here:
http://www.journal.com.ph/index.php?issue=2008-08-17&sec=1&aid=70285
The rape story was one connected with Daniel Veridiano, a former member of Ang Dating Daan and who had joined the Iglesia ni Cristo. While he was the one who raped his office mates, he filed a rape case against Preacher Soriano, obviously helped by the new church group he joined to spite Soriano after being excommunicated from Soriano’s group. In Dalizon’s story, Veridiano was untruthfully presented as a former member of the Iglesia ni Cristo, just like Dalizon did in the case of Soriano – a poor attempt of Dalizon to hide his connections with the Iglesia ni Cristo. Dalizon also implied that Veridiano merely returned to his former fold, the Iglesia ni Cristo, when the truth is that Veridiano could no longer be acceptable to Soriano’s group.
Veridiano was excommunicated by Soriano for several offenses, including rape of some 14 of his subordinates and pilfering the church collections. His confessions can be viewed in YouTube. According to the church leader, the rape case Veridiano filed against the evangelist was in retaliation for his excommunication. This case was once dismissed by the courts for lack of evidence, but due to the intervention of Raul Gonzalez, himself the Secretary of Justice, the case was re-filed. Wikipedia carries this item in the biography of Eliseo Soriano where it mentions that Gonzalez has no connection with the case and yet he had it re-filed.
Some of the false teachings of the INC that Soriano had been attacking are: That anyone who is outside of the INC will not be saved, and other churches are of the devil thus condemning their members to the fires of hell; that Jesus Christ is a human being, was a human being, and remains a human being, and that Manalo is an angel; that holy supper is observed in the morning and with financial contributions.
Soriano had to leave the country in late 2005 upon receiving word that he would be left for dead. The INC had been filing case after case against Soriano beginning with libel and other cases to include rape. When he found that he could not even get the local and national courts to give him justice, he filed a case with the International Court of Human Rights.
The most vicious of the strategies that the INC had been using against Soriano is that of media. First, they used comics to depict Soriano in sodomy. These comics have been mandatory for their ministers to distribute and they were required quotas. Abner Martizano, the INC minister who got affiliated with the Ang Dating Daan group had provided all the details and showed on screen the directives from his former church in the viewing of thousands of Ang Dating Daan members.
The INC is known for its king-maker capacity with its bloc voting practice and is well sought for by politicians in times of elections. After the elections, these elected people return the favor in so many ways. Soriano, as beleaguered international evangelist, has left his country on account of persecutions by this rival church group quite influential to the Philippine government. Fortunately, for him, his being abroad has turned much good for his work as evangelist. More church locales have been opened and many nationalities have joined his faith including those from Canada, North and South America, Africa, Spain, and some from Asia.
First published in Newsvine
News Type: Event — Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:12 AM EST
Jane Abao
An international evangelist, considered as the most queried man on earth today reiterated his need to face his powerful nemesis in a one-on-one debate on television live. Also counted as the most sensible preacher of our time today, his challenge is not one to be easily dismissed. Some quarters look at this challenge as a spur to the debate of the century long expected by those familiar with this preacher.
Filipino evangelist Bro. Eliseo Soriano who had exiled himself for expediency, reiterated today (23/1/2008) his challenge to a church leader of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC, translated as Church of Christ) to come out in the open so that this man could defend his teachings. Soriano had been very critical of false preachers ever since, most especially those of the INC.
Eraño Manalo, the Executive Minister of the INC, one whom Soriano calls a false preacher, has been ignoring Soriano’s call for a debate. Soriano is the presiding minister of the Church of God, International, better known through their program, as Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path) by the public.
Eraño is the son of Felix Manalo, founder of the INC. He is politically a kingmaker in the Philippines for his bloc-voting congregation and is much sought after by politicians for help come election time.
Soriano, 61, left the Philippines in a hurry towards the end of 2005 when conditions turned sour to his interests as preacher, on the belief that Manalo had much to do with the string of cases maliciously filed against him. Word had reached the evangelist of impending events to happen. As he did not want anyone of his people to be sacrificed if they defended him, Soriano left the country upon advice of his security personnel.
A formal challenge to debate with Manalo was published by Soriano in one whole page of the broadsheet, Manila Times, in March 2005. The intention was to end once and for all the contentions between them and to let the public see who among them was telling the truth.
However, the INC Executive Minister Manalo merely told Soriano through his ministers in their TV program, Ang Tamang Daan (The Right Path), to debate with the Pope of Rome first and speak Latin before attempting to debate with him.
Ang Tamang Daan is an INC counterfeit of Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path), Soriano’s long running program which has won several awards. For the nth time, Soriano who has been based abroad for two years now is reiterating the call for debate with Manalo.
In a bible exposition where the interactive portion, “Ask Bro. Eli” was held today at Marinduque, south of Manila, via satellite from the United States, Soriano who is called Bro. Eli, has been challenged by a minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo or INC to explain why Soriano kept referring to his church as Iglesia ni Manalo (Church of Manalo). Soriano replied that there are so many churches of Christ but it is only the INC who refers to Christ as man and that he never was God at any time. Therefore, to make a distinction that the church of Christ he was referring to is the one that believes in Christ as man, Soriano had to refer to this group as Iglesia ni Manalo, he said.
Further, Soriano reasoned out that the Wesleyans did not find it offensive if their church was referred to as the Church of Wesley, just as the Mormons and the Aglipays did not feel slighted when they were referred to as the Mormon church or the Aglipayan church. Soriano also showed some documents on screen for the audience to see that Felix Manalo, the founder of this church, referred to the Iglesia ni Cristo as “my church.”
Piqued with the preacher’s answer, the minister of the INC (name unidentified to the audience) insisted that he could debate with Soriano at that very moment, but the latter countered that he must have the authority of Manalo first. The minister claimed that Soriano had been evading debate with his group, to which Soriano retorted that he was the one who had long been challenging Manalo to come out in the open and defend his teachings. He also warned the INC minister not to reverse the truth.
Answering from his seat abroad where is he based, Soriano said in a raised voice, “It is I who kept calling for Manalo to come out in the open and debate with me. Don’t you dare reverse the truth.”
As published in Wikipedia, “Eliseo Soriano posted a paid advertisement in Manila Times broadsheets and invited the camp of Iglesia ni Cristo in a one on one debate and discussion. The Iglesia ni Cristo answered Soriano on their program by asking him to debate first with Pope John Paul II which was bedridden at that time and died a few days after this was posted.”
The INC minister, who was tagged as the 14th inquirer in the “Ask Bro. Eli” portion of the program that night, walked out of the hall after failing to get what he wanted. As he left the hall, many of his followers took after him that several seats were vacated up front. However, even as the INC group left, there was excitement in the air.
It is nights like this that the audience becomes excited whenever one would dare challenge Bro. Eli. Until now, it is said, no one has proven this man wrong when it comes to biblical matters. His work history is one tracked with many exciting debates – with the losers leaving in bitterness after their erroneous teachings were exposed. Bro. Eli does not flinch whenever he comes face to face with false preachers, it is said. The INC are not excluded from the many fiery attacks of this evangelist.
It was evident that the inquirer was not there to ask questions on matters of faith or salvation but to register his angst and anger against the host for labeling their church as Iglesia ni Manalo.
Eliseo Soriano comes off as the most queried man on earth today. Working initially with Filipino audiences wherever they could be found, he had expanded on to international audiences. In his program, “Ask Bro Eli,” he is asked several questions ranging from relationships, to dreams, to ailments, to spiritual concerns, to management, to governance, to deep matters of truth, and he would answer by reading direct from the bible.
Each month, Soriano’s program gives off an average of 10 bible expositions where about 20 complex questions in each are asked and he would give long comprehensive answers. Each month, therefore, Soriano’s program that is held in the evening up to midnight could reap about 200-250 questions and each year, about 2,500 questions. The program had started its heydays in the radio then. Most of the questions are those not answered by the pastors of the inquirers. They included questions about idols, spirits, prayers, death, tithing, the real Jesus Christ, resurrection, judgment day, living, God the father, false preachers.
“Ask Bro. Eli ” has long been showcasing Soriano’s prowess in answering questions where most of the inquirers were enlightened and had joined Soriano’s faith – not excluding those from the Iglesia ni Cristo.
Soriano is now facing multiple charges in the Philippines filed by the Iglesia ni Cristo and its sympathizers – all of them arising from his work as evangelist. The witnesses are either those Soriano had excommunicated from his congregation for various offenses, public officials who had benefited from the bloc-voting practices of the INC, and even those who stood to gain from the filed cases.
The impact of the evangelist’s work has drastically reduced the membership of Manalo’s church that heavily depended on tithing – which practice Soriano has been preaching against. Tithing according to him is merely Mosaic law that is not applicable to Christians today.
Wanting to continue with his mission as one in a hurry, Soriano tries yet to be safe from those who would want his downfall. With his impressive humanitarian work of caring for the helpless of Philippine society, he feels he is not being given the justice due a Filipino citizen.
In one of the many earlier discussions of Soriano on Biblical topics, he had intimated that the last war to be fought will be a war between truth and evil.
Soriano had earlier filed a case with the International Human Rights Commission.
First published in Newsvine
News Type: Event — Sun Nov 4, 2007 11:26 PM EST
Jane Abao
Manila, Philippines – A church group suspected to be behind the troubles of a justice who failed to get appointed as Supreme Court justice surfaced lately.
According to Victor C. Agustin, columnist of Manila Standard Today, the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) finally surfaced as the group that was behind Gregory S. Ong’s failure to get appointed as Supreme Court (SC) justice. In his column titled, Cocktales, Agustin described this church group as powerful that they would not stop there.
Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong failed to make the appointment because of an unresolved citizenship issue. Agustin said that the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) even wanted Ong removed from Sandiganbayan, an anti-graft court where he sits now.
Agustin wrote, “The powerful Iglesia Ni Cristo has come out in the open not only to prevent Sandiganbayan Justice Gregory Ong from being appointed to the Supreme Court but also to have him unseated from the anti-graft court.” Accordingly, the petition was filed by the lawyer of this group who belongs to the Iglesia Ni Cristo.
The petition to disqualify Ong from the Sandiganbayan, is now pending in the Pasig Regional Trial Court. It was filed by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, counsel of the Iglesia.
Agustin intimated that Justice Ong had convicted a brother-in-law of the Iglesia’s Executive Minister by the name of Victor Danao, a military colonel.
As described by Agustin, Ong allegedly “caught the ire of the Iglesia hierarchy after the Sandiganbayan justice convicted military colonel Victor Danao, husband of Pilar Manalo, who happens to be a sister of Iglesia Executive Minister Eraño Manalo.” Pilar, said to be the daughter of Felix Manalo, first executive minister of the church group, is known to have composed the songs for the Iglesia.
Meanwhile, the INC’s clout in government is found in their much-touted practice of block voting. Not only does the incumbent Philippine president have the backings of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, but those before her including senators and congressmen who curry their favor come national elections.
Agustin said Lawyer Topacio is being helped in his legal research by a number of Iglesia lawyers in his oral arguments scheduled before Judge Leoncio Janolo Jr.
Being a Sandiganbayan justice, Ong was among the contenders for the position to a vacant slot in the Supreme Court like Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Ruben Reyes, Court of Tax Appeals Presiding Justice Ernesto Acosta, Labor Secretary Arturo Brion, CA Justice Edgardo Cruz and Sandiganbayan Justice Francisco Villaruz Jr. In July, this year, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo appointed Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Ruben Reyes as Associate Justice to the vacant slot.
Earlier it was reported by Aries Rufo of NewsBreak (02/08/2007) that appointed SC justice Ruben Reyes had the backing of the Iglesia ni Cristo and another church group. Reyes turned 68 last January 3, has only one year and two months to serve in the Tribunal before the compulsory retirement of 70.
The non-appointment of Gregory Ong to the high court is more than just the issue of his citizenship, an evangelist has charged recently. More so, the threat of his being removed from the antigraft court.
According to Eliseo Soriano, the un-warranted influence of the Iglesia Ni Cristo in the affairs of the government is to instill fear among the justices so that they will not meddle with the affairs of the INC.
Saying he admires Justice Gregory Ong for his impartiality in judging cases and his courage in carrying out his task, Soriano said Ong has the backing of his congregation, the Church of God, International, more popularly known as Ang Dating Daan (The Old Path). “Tell Justice Ong to carry on. We are all behind him.” Soriano said through live telecast from the United States before thousands of his followers.
Soriano is a Filipino evangelist now preaching overseas and leads a world-wide congregation of about 4 million. His congregation is all the more growing geometrically with weekly baptisms in thousands in the country and abroad as far as Africa, despite persecutions. Soriano was forced to leave the country for open threat on his life.
Ang Dating Daan as a program had been suspended many times by the Movie and Television Review Classification Board (MTRCB) under the Office of the President of the land for reasons related to the INC. Soriano had been attacking INC beliefs, particularly calling Christ a man, tithing regulations, and falsified history. At one time, one reason for the suspension of the program was Soriano’s calling the church-group, “Iglesia Ni Manalo” (church of Manalo) which the group resented.
UPDATE: Manila Times Jomar Canlas reported today that the judge handling this case, Judge Leoncio Janolo Jr., has been penalized by the Supreme Court because of the “delays in resolving cases.” He was fined P11, 000 ($250).
First published in Newsvine
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