Thousands from Philippine sect protest pro-Duterte senator's graft case
Government prosecutors plan to charge Senator Rodante Marcoleta over undeclared campaign funds worth 75 million pesos (US$1.2 million).
Members of the religious sect Iglesia Ni Cristo raise clenched fists as they shout slogans during an anti-corruption protest at a park in Manila on Nov 17, 2025. (File photo: AFP/Ted Aljibe)
MANILA: Thousands of members of a powerful Philippine religious sect rallied in Manila on Tuesday (Jun 30), snarling traffic as they protested the expected arrest of a senator and church member.
The rally came a day after it was announced that Senator Rodante Marcoleta, a member of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) church and an ally of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte, was set to be charged with graft tied to his election campaign fund.
The INC has historically been a powerful voting bloc with ties to the Duterte political dynasty and Marcoleta is widely viewed as an all-but-certain vote against convicting Duterte at her Senate trial, which begins next week.
Protesters who spoke with AFP said they had been contacted by organisers at around 9pm the night before via text, phone calls and messages on the Telegram platform.
"This is a lightning protest. As you know, the Iglesia ni Cristo is just one body. With just one command, everybody will follow," 56-year-old Rodel Gundrean told AFP.
Church member Marc Raeden Quemada, 26, said he had been at the protest since 6am and did not plan to leave "until we're told to go home".
As of 2pm, traffic remained bottlenecked in the area, with police estimating a crowd of about 12,000.
"We're expecting the number of people will still increase ... so there might still be traffic tonight," regional police spokeswoman Hazel Asilo told AFP.
Government ombudsman Jesus Remulla said on Monday Marcoleta was set to be charged over a failure to declare 75 million pesos (US$1.2 million) in unused election campaign contributions.
A month earlier, prosecutors filed charges against another Duterte loyalist, Senator Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, over his alleged involvement in a massive corruption scandal over bogus flood control projects.
A third Duterte ally, Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa, is in hiding after narrowly escaping arrest on an International Criminal Court warrant over his role in the deadly drug war conducted by the vice president's father, ex-president Rodrigo Duterte.
"SELECTIVE JUSTICE"
In a video message ahead of Tuesday's rally, INC spokesman Edwil Zabala said the church was calling for "transparency" in standing by Marcoleta.
"We want to let them know that selective justice is an injustice and we will not remain silent," he said.
Vice President Duterte issued a separate statement saying President Ferdinand Marcos's administration had "weaponised the justice system by filing cases against and imprisoning individuals who dare speak out against alleged corruption".
In November, the INC rallied a crowd estimated in the hundreds of thousands, calling for accountability over the flood control scandal while placing most of the blame on Marcos.
Earlier in 2025, the church held a huge rally in Manila opposing the mooted impeachment of Duterte.
While that impeachment was reversed by the country's Supreme Court, Duterte was impeached once again by the House of Representatives last month.
Her trial is set to begin on Jul 6, with 16 votes in the 24-seat Senate required for a guilty verdict that would see her removed as vice president and permanently banned from elected office.
On Tuesday, President Marcos cancelled a planned luncheon with the foreign press to monitor the situation.
