The announcement was made after a 1:54-minute video was uploaded on video-sharing site YouTube last Wednesday night.
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She ended with another call to INC followers: “Dear brethren, may the Lord God help us all”.
“My Brethren of the Church of Christ, we are appealing to you because our lives are in danger. We hope that you can help us”, said Angel, who opened the video message. “Please help my children Angel and Lottie and their companions”, Tenny said. The author also alleged that some are being tortured in police camps and their families prevented from speaking about their expulsion from the religious group.
Ka Erdy is a son of the so-called “Sugo ni Iglesia” – Felix Manalo, founder of the INC.
She said she came to offer support and hold a vigil for the family of Angel and Tenny.
The second part of the video shows a picture of Angel’s mother, Cristina “Tenny” Manalo, as she purportedly makes a similar appeal to help her children-Angel and Lolita “Lottie” Manalo Hemedez.
He added that they were celebrating their 101st anniversary on Monday, and have experienced many trials.
She also made a public plea to her eldest son Eduardo, who inherited his father’s position as Executive Minister, asking for a chance to talk to him.
He said Eduardo Manalo, the current head, will not allow anyone to disrupt Iglesia.
The house is the residence of the Manalo matriarch. “But our problem is with people around him”, Angel said. “Also help the ministers who were abducted and have remained missing]”.
INC General Evangelist Bienvenido Santiago told ABS-CBN News that there is no truth to the claims of Tenny and Angel, the two are just trying to gain sympathy for their members for them to get back in power. “And we will let them resolve the situation”, Magalong said.
A GMA News online report quoted a web log by a certain Antonio Ebangelista, who claimed that the INC leadership has expelled nine ministers from Sorsogon, Cebu and Bulacan.
Erano was the top minister of the INC for 44 years.
Santiago denied the allegations mentioned in the video.
Past noon Thursday, one sign appeared — “Help, we’re held hostage”.
Meanwhile, a blog critical of the current INC leadership has provided supposed details of the abduction of ministers of the religious organization.
The INC, with an estimated 3 million members in 100 countries, is very influential among political leaders because a key tenet of the sect is command votes.
“If this is true, these are criminal offenses”.
“They were arrested without warrants, their homes violated, their properties trampled on, gadgets stolen, their families traumatized, their close friends interrogated and watched”, it added. Samson said he and his family only managed to escape from their predicament on Thursday, Jul 23, after a week of being “detained”.
Zabala stressed that the group does not consider the expulsion of few members a crisis, saying the INC’s action against some members of the Manalo family was “valid” as those concerned promote disunity.
They were there outside the house at 11 p.m., Pagdilao said in a television interview.
A minister who was allegedly held hostage told The STAR are okay for now, but that they might be raided when night falls. Mother and son said there were threats to their lives and some ministers had been “taken”.
Rosal, who described the mayor as “poor and simple”, said the ministers were paid on installment, with P100,000 as the biggest amount paid.
Cortez did not elaborate why Tenny and her children were expelled from the INC.
Roel said they fear for their lives as they have been receiving threats since June.
The argument intensified after some supporters of Angel and Tenny spoke out about allegations of corruption against Eduardo and other leaders of the church.
Pagdilao’s visit was upon the instruction of Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Ricardo Marquez.
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But the person who flashed the sign was nowhere to be found. The INC Sanggunian is, put simply, the group’s council of elders.
