MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE SUSPECT SUBMIT HIMSELF

MANILA - Datu Unsay Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr., a suspect in Monday's massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao province, submitted  himself to authorities on Thursday.
A field report by ANC's Patricia Evangelista said Ampatuan Jr. turned himself in to Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza.
Ampatuan Jr. was brought to a waiting helicopter bound for General Santos City, where he was turned over to Department of Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera.
Prosecutors, led by Chief State Prosecutor Jovencito Zuño, conducted inquest proceedings in General Santos City, radio dzMM reported.
From General Santos City, Ampatuan Jr. is expected to be brought to Manila.
The hand over took place after police and military personnel secured the provincial capitol of Maguindanao and the municipal compounds of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan towns early Thursday.
Authorities said the local government compounds were taken over to assure the peaceful turnover of Ampatuan Jr. to Dureza.
4 other suspects in massacre named
Meanwhile, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ronaldo Puno on Thursday revealed that the entire Ampatuan clan will undergo investigation for their alleged role in the murders of 57 people, including journalists and supporters of a rival political clan in Ampatuan, Maguindanao last Monday.
In a press conference, Puno said that aside from Ampatuan Jr., the DOJ has listed four other people as suspects in the crime, including Maguindanao police provincial director Senior Superintendent Abusana Maguid, Shariff Aguak police Chief Inspector Sukarno Dikay, a certain SPO2 Bakal, and an Inspector Diobingan.
He said the four were implicated in the murders based on the statements of alleged survivors of the massacre.
Puno said Dureza had given an ultimatum to the Ampatuan clan to surrender Ampatuan Jr. for questioning about the massacre or face the full force of the law.
Puno said law enforcers secured the provincial capitol of Maguindanao and the municipal halls of Shariff Aguak and Ampatuan and were disarming a total of 347 militiamen in the province to prevent further bloodshed.
No appeasement, negotiation
"There has never been any appeasement. There has never been any negotiation. The families of the suspect have been told what our position is on the matter. As an example, if Datu Unsay Ampatuan would not have boarded the helicopter to bring him to General Santos City and then to Manila today, the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police were prepared to take action and exert all physical force to make sure that the suspect would be brought to the inquest," he told reporters.
Puno said the Department of Justice (DOJ) will also investigate other members of the Ampatuan clan for possible complicity in the murders. "We have to address this crime very, very forcefully...That is not the end of the investigation until we find and bring to justice all of those who in one way or the other involved in the conduct in this heinous crime," he said.
Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, meanwhile, said the government will continue to pursue the other perpetrators of the crime.
“The taking in, inquest, and the subsequent filing of charges against Datu Unsay Ampatuan is just the beginning. The government will be relentless in bringing to justice all responsible for the gruesome Maguindanao massacre. President Arroyo wants all the culprits punished without fear or favor," he said in a statement.
At the start of the press conference, the DILG chief said the national government had to remain mum about some of the details of the government's investigation until after they were conducted. He said this included getting sworn depositions of four survivors of the massacre who were under the care of the Mangudadatus.
He said the National Police Commission has passed a resolution withdrawing the deputization of all local government units in Maguindanao. This means that the governor and municipal mayors in Maguindanao will no longer have direct supervision of police forces in their jurisdiction, he said.
"The general direction is to remove all policemen in Maguindanao and transfer them elsewhere," he said.
A local Army official, meanwhile, said the AFP has deployed one infantry battalion, one Scout Ranger battalion and two mechanized battalions to Maguindanao. -- with a report from Patricia Evangelista, ANC

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE UPDATE

Maguindanao massacre death toll rises to 46—police
By Marlon Ramos
Agence France-Presse, Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 08:16:00 11/24/2009

Filed Under: Crime, Eleksyon 2010, Elections, Politics, Maguindanao Massacre

MAGUINDANAO, Philippines—(UPDATE 6) Bullet-ridden bodies were pulled out from shallow graves on Tuesday as troops hunted down the gunmen who massacred, according to the Philippine National Police, at least 46 people in one of the Philippines' most brutal explosions of political violence.

Police on Mindanao island pulled bullet-ridden bodies from shallow graves in this remote farming area after gunmen allegedly employed by a local political chief abducted then shot dead a group of rival politicians and journalists.

“Some bodies were strewn on the ground. Most were recovered from under lumps of earth which were stained with blood,” said Chief Superintendent Josefino Cataluna, the regional police commander.

"They were piled on top of each other. It looked as if they were buried hurriedly," said Cataluna.

Twenty-two bodies had previously been found beside a dirt road nearby following Monday's killings by gunmen allegedly linked to the area's political kingpin.

The group abducted associates of a rival politician and at least 20 journalists from General Santos City and nearby provinces who were covering them.

“But we have yet to finalize our tally as we are still talking with the relatives of the victims,” Cataluna said.

Chief Superintendent Leonardo Espina, PNP spokesman, said the bodies would be taken to Buluan town, Maguindanao province, after the police have conducted an autopsy on the bodies and conferred with the victims’ relatives.

Most of the victims bore gunshot wounds, Espina said.

National police chief Jesus Verzosa, who flew to the south to supervise the investigation, said he feared the death toll could rise with several other members of the kidnapped party of more than 40 people still missing.

"We still have to check one other suspected mass grave," he added.

"We expect more bodies from other areas," Cataluna said.

Journalists on the scene said a mechanical digger was emblazoned with the name of the Maguindanao provincial governor, Andal Ampatuan, whose bodyguards had been blamed by the military as being behind the massacre.

The victims were among a group of more than 40 people abducted by gunmen Monday linked to Maguindanao Governor Andal Ampatuan, head of a Muslim clan who is part of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's ruling coalition.

The abducted group was made up of relatives and associates of Esmael Mangudadatu, the head of a rival Muslim clan in Maguindanao, plus a group of journalists, the military and police said.

The group was traveling in a convoy to accompany or report on Mangudadatu's wife as she went to an electoral office to register her husband to run for governor against Ampatuan's son in next year's national polls.

Authorities warned the death toll would climb higher as they sought to deal with the incident.

"It's a big area where these bodies were found. They are finding a couple of bodies every a couple of hours or so," Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno said as he described a farming area covered in hastily dug graves.

Puno said the extra bodies being recovered were on top of the the official death toll, but he would not speculate on how many people in total had been murdered.

"They are still looking for some missing persons. A number of other bodies were found. I can't really reveal the details now. It's a large number," Puno said in a television interview.

Espina said Verzosa and other senior police officials flew to Maguindanao early Tuesday to personally check on the area and supervise the manhunt against the perpetrators of the killings.

He said Verzosa ordered the relief of Chief Inspector Sukarno Dicay, the deputy provincial police chief of Maguindanao, after he was supposedly seen with the armed men who abducted and killed the victims.

Additional police troops were also deployed in the area to prevent a possible rise of hostilities in the area.

Political violence is common in the Philippines – where more than one million unlicensed guns proliferate – and dozens of people are murdered each election season.

But the scale of Monday's massacre, as well as the targeting of apparently unrelated people, has shocked the country.

Fourteen of the victims were women and some of them were journalists with no apparent links to the clan war, the police and military said.

Military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Romeo Brawner said the Ampatuans and their associates were believed to have been responsible for the massacre.

"The suspects are bodyguards of Ampatuan, local police aides and certain lawless elements," Brawner said.

As thousands of soldiers fanned out across the Ampatuans' stronghold in search of the gunmen on Tuesday, sickening details of the massacre emerged.

The military said about 100 armed men stopped the convoy of vehicles on a remote section of highway near the town of Ampatuan, which bears the same name as the political kingpin.

Police said the bodies of the victims were found a few kilometers (miles) away, with a bulldozer apparently used to dig the graves still on the scene.

Police said 15 of the victims appeared to have been shot inside their vehicles while one was believed to have been cut down by gunfire while fleeing.

"All were shot at close range," said one of the investigators on the scene, Chief Superintendent Felicisimo Khu.

Asked about the allegations by some of the victims' relatives that the murdered women were also raped, Khu said: "We cannot confirm that although all the women had their pants unzipped."

The Ampatuan clan is the longtime political kingpin of Maguindanao, a mainly Muslim section of Mindanao Island which has been wracked by a Muslim separatist rebellion for decades.

The Ampatuan patriarch, Andal Ampatuan Sr., has been governor for the past nine years and wants his son and namesake to succeed him.

The Ampatuan clan has been important in delivering votes to Arroyo's ruling Lakas Kampi-CMD coalition in recent elections. The Ampatuan father is the provincial chair of the coalition in Maguindanao.

Puno vowed the government would be impartial as it pursued justice.

"I just want to assure everybody that we are doing everything necessary here, that there will be no sacred cows," Puno said.

"This is going to be a direct investigation of the crimes that have been committed and we are going to hold the persons responsible for this."

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

MANILA - President Arroyo on Monday ordered the military and police to immediately pursue the perpetrators of the gruesome massacre in Maguindanao province related to the May 2010 elections.

In a statement, Arroyo directed the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), through acting National Defense Secretary Norberto Gonzales, and the police, through Secretary of Interior and Local Government Ronaldo Puno, to order their units to "conduct immediate and relentless pursuit of the perpetrators, to secure the affected areas.”

Bodies of 21 of 44 kidnap victims, including the wife and relatives of Buluan town's vice mayor, who is a gubernatorial aspirant in Maguindanao province, were recovered by troops of the Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province Monday afternoon, according to AFP spokesman Lt. Co. Romeo Brawner Jr..

The bodies were recovered in Sitio Masalay, Barangay Salman in Ampatuan town.

Brawner said the military believes there are more bodies buried that have yet to be recovered. The bodies have not yet been identified. Some of the corpses reportedly showed "signs of mutilation."

Buluan vice mayor Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu told ANC that his wife, Genalyn, his sister, and some relatives were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for governor of Maguindanao province on his behalf when a group of about 100 armed men abducted them.

The killings are the first major poll-related violence in the May 2010 elections, which are still 6 months away. Most of the victims are women.

Mangudadatu believes the abduction was politically motivated. He said his wife called him at around 9:30 in the morning to say an armed group, supposedly of the Ampatuan clan, a political rival, flagged down their convoy on their way to Shariff Aguak town, where the election office of the province is located.

Mangudadatu said that aside from his wife and relatives, also included in the convoy were lawyers and members of media, who were supposed to cover the filing of the COC.

“Hold perpetrators accountable”

President Arroyo ordered Gonzales and Lt. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang, acting AFP Chief of Staff, to proceed to Maguindanao on Tuesday “to personally oversee military action against the perpetrators of these dastardly acts.”

“No effort will be spared to bring justice to the victims and hold the perpetrators accountable to the full limit of the law,” said President Arroyo.

Maclang ordered the establishment of checkpoints and chokepoints, with elements of Army’s 601st Infantry Brigade already in place to preserve peace in the area, in compliance with the President’s directives. Additional troops were ordered deployed to further secure the area.

President Arroyo also condemned “in the strongest terms the violence in Maguindanao.”

She was reported to have said that “civilized society has no place for this kind of violence” as she assured that the rule of law will be restored in the area and the lawless elements neutralized.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief director-general Jesus Verzosa said that a joint police and military task force led by Maj. Gen Alfredo Cayton, Army 6th Infantry Division commanding general, was immediately formed. The task force would include police and Army units in the region.

The task force was ordered to “conduct hot pursuit operations against all perpetrators responsible for the incident, recover remaining hostages and thoroughly and immediately investigate the incident.”

Arroyo allies

The pursuit operations may encounter difficulties since initial reports by the military said that those involved allegedly included Maguindanao’s powerful Ampatuan clan. The Ampatuans are staunch allies of the Arroyo administration.

In a separate report, Brawner said the abductors allegedly included members of the Maguindanao provincial police, police volunteers, and government militiamen. He said they were led by the mayor of Datu Unsay town, Andal Ampatuan Jr., and one Senior Inspector Dicay of the Sharif Aguak town’s police.

Brawner also said the victims were later brought near a camp of the Tornado Command of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) at Barangay Salman village, where the Army’s 601st Brigade recovered the bodies, along with their vehicles, at around 4:30 p.m.

Madasser Mangudadato, a member of the ARMM-Regional Legislative Assembly and brother of Esmael Mangudadatu, had also pointed to the alleged involvement of the head of the Ampatuan clan.

“They were all abducted by the armed men, and accordingly, allegedly, it was ordered by the old man (Maguindanao governor Andal Sr.) and Andal Jr. ...The abductors are Andal Ampatuan Sr. and Andal Ampatuan Jr., The ground commander is Andal Ampatuan Jr., together with Manerin Ampatuan,” he said.

He said that while in the custody of the armed men, Madasser said Ismael’s wife was able to call her husband.

“Tumawag sa husband niya, sabi niya ‘Pang, hinuli na kami ng mga armadong lalaki, hinuli kami ng mga armadong lalaki at pinagsasampal kami at ipinakain sa akin ang COC. Sinasaktan na kami’, that was the last word and the parting words of the wife,” he said.

Asked why the Ampatuans would commit such a crime, Madasser said the Ampatuans were scared of losing in the gubernatorial elections.

“It's all politics, politically-motivated, whatever it is, and it led to the massacre,” said Madasser.

State of emergency proposed

Meanwhile, Presidential Adviser for Mindanao Secretary Jesus Dureza condemned the abduction and killings.

"This is a gruesome massacre of civilians unequalled in recent history. Even women and working mediamen were not spared. I grieve for my friends in the media and all those killed while doing their job,” said Dureza in a text message.

Dureza called for a stop to violence but also recommended “that a state of emergency be imposed in the area and everyone be disarmed. Anything less will not work."

MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

MANILA - Bodies of at least 30 kidnap victims, including the wife and relatives of Buluan town's vice mayor, were recovered by government troops in Ampatuan town in Maguindanao province Monday afternoon.

Map of Maguindanao province, showing the location of the capital town Shariff Aguak, and the municipalities of Ampatuan and Buluan. (ABS-CBN News Graphics)

The killings are the first reported violence related to the May 2010 polls, which are still 6 months away. Most of the victims are women. Some are members of the media.

In a phone interview with ABS-CBN News, Buluan Mayor Ibrahim "Jong" Mangudadatu confirmed that at least 30 bodies have been recovered as of Monday evening.

Earlier, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. confirmed to the ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC) that 13 female and 8 male bodies were found by members of the 601st Infrantry Brigade of the AFP around 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Buluan vice mayor Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu told ANC that his wife, Jenalyn, his sister, and some relatives were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy on his behalf when a group of about 100 armed men abducted them.

Mangudadatu, who is running for governor of Maguindanao, said some 15 media men who went to cover the event were also seized.

The Mangudadatus believe the abduction was politically motivated. Madaser "Toy" Mangudadato, a member of regional legislative assembly of ARMM, told ANC that they sent their female relatives to file the certificate of candidacy for "Toto" in the hope that their political rivals would not harm them.

Toy said they were warned that if Toto will personally file his candidacy, he will be hurt.

The entourage left for the provincial capitol at around 9 a.m.. Toy said the group could not be contacted because the cellphones of those in the convoy were "blocked."

Toto said his wife called him at around 9:30 in the morning to say an armed group, supposedly of the Ampatuan clan, a political rival, flagged down their convoy on their way to Shariff Aguak town, where the election office of the province is located.

He said his wife's parting words over the phone was about the armed men slapping them around and commanding them to swallow the certificate of candidacy forms.

He told ANC it was the Ampatuans who beheaded and mutilated the bodies of his wife, his youngest sister, a lawyer, various relatives, supporters and other civilians, after robbing them.

ABS-CBN News has tried to reach the Ampatuans for comments but they could not be reached.

Family, political feud

The Mangundadatus were long-time allies of the Ampatuans, whose patriarch, Andal Ampatuan was re-elected governor of the province of Maguindanao in 2007.

Last year, the Mangudadatus went to Shariff Aguak to ask the senior Ampatuan to allow a member of the clan to vie for the gubernatorial post in 2010, according an abs-cbnNEWS.com/ Newsbreak's military source who is familiar with politics in the area.

According to the source, however, the Ampatuans were displeased because the Mangudadatus brought with them about 200 fully armed men. This, according to the source, contributed to growing animosity between the two camps.

Buluan Vice-Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu denied the Shariff Aguak incident during the ANC interview.

The senior Ampatuan wants one of his sons to succeed him as provincial governor, according to the abs-cbnNEWS.com/ Newsbreak source.

Sources in the military say Andal is known to control his own private army, which includes two CAFGU companies and a host of civilian volunteers.

Brawner said there were about 100 gunmen, most of whom were militiamen deputised as government guards by Ampatuan's family.

Brawner said the leader of the militiamen who staged the kidnapping was one of Ampatuan's sons. Ampatuan could not be reached for comment as of posting time.

Revenge killings and clashes among rival political families are common in Maguindanao and other parts of Mindanao island, where unlicensed firearms proliferate and parts of which are lawless.

Islamic militants on Mindanao have also been waging a separatist rebellion for decades.

(Read background on Maguindanao clan and political wars here and here.)

Toto Mangudadatu told ANC that he will proceed with his plans to run for governor next year. "No one can compel me not to run for governor. And I just want to state this in the presence of the people of the Republic of the Philippines, especially [those from] our province that I plan to run for governor to reform our province."

Election violence

In a radio interview, Deputy Presidential Spokesperson Lorelei Fajardo said, "Dapat malaman kaagad ng kapulisan natin kung sino ang may kagagawan nito, para maipakita rin natin sa publiko na hindi natin mapapalagpas ang ganitong karahasan."

She added that the incident should be a warning that security is a priority in areas where election-related violence are high.

Maj. Gen. Alfredo Cayton, commander of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said it was the Philippine National Police (PNP) that was in charge of the security in the filing of the certificate of candidacy at the provincial capitol in Sharif Aguak town.

Cayton said they have sent a battalion of soldiers and 5 armored vehicles to help the PNP restore peace in the province.

Brawner said no arrest has been made yet.

Mangudadato convoy

In a phone interview with ANC, Toto Mangudadatu enumerated the following names as part of the group who accompanied the Mangudadatu family in filing Vice Mayor Mangudadatu's certificate of candidacy on his behalf:

Next of kin:
1. Eden Mangudadatu (Vice Mayor of Mangudadatu municipality and sister of Buluan Vice Mayor Toto Mangudadatu)
2. Jenalyn Tiamson-Mangudadatu (wife of Toto Mangudadatu)
3. Mamutabay Mangudadatu (aunt)
4. Rowena Mangudadatu
5. Farina Mangudadatu
6. Wahida Ali Kalim (civilian)
7. Faridah Sabdullah (aunt)
8. Zorayda Bernan (cousin)
9. Rayda Sapalon Abdul (cousin)
10. Pinky Balayman (cousin)
11. Ella Balayman (cousin)
12. Rahima Pyuto-Palawan (relative)

Staff:
13. Atty Cynthia Oquendo
14. Atty Connie Brizuela
15. Mr. Oquendo, father of Cynthia
16. Unto (driver)
17. Razul Daud (driver)
18. Eugene Demillo (driver)
19. Miriam Kalimbol (business supervisor)
20. Civic Edsa (driver)
21. Patrick Pamansang (driver)
22. Chito (driver)
23. Abdullah Haji Dolong (driver)

Media:
24. Ian Subang (Dadiangas Times)
25. Leah Dalmacio (Forum)
26. Gina dela Cruz (Today)
27. Marites Cablitas (Today)
28. Joy Duhay (UNTV)
29. Henry Araneta (DZRH)
30. Andy Teodoro (Mindanao Inquirer)
31. Neneng Montaño (formerly of RGMA)
32. Bong Reblando, Manila Bulletin
33. Victor Nuñez (UNTV)
34. Macmac Ariola (UNTV)
35. Jimmy Cabillo (UNTV)

Mangudadatu said he cannot account for 9 of the 44 who joined the convoy.

The total number of those who joined the convoy remained hazy with some accounts reporting up to a total of 65.

The number of media practitioners in the convoy is yet to be confirmed, too, with some accounts reporting up to 35

recently published study by researchers at Columbia University in New York has discovered a definitive link between air pollution inhaled by pregnant women and lower IQ scores of their offspring. Published in the medical journal Pediatrics, the study tested 249 New York City women who lived in neighborhoods with high levels of air pollution. They study showed that kids whose mothers breathed in the most pollutants scored four to five IQ points lower on average.

These researchers were able to detect a perceptible drop in IQ test scores from New York's level of air pollution which is nowhere near the suffocating particulate-laden air found in Metro Manila and major cities in the Philippines. So the question now is; what about the legions of young Filipino children who have been breathing-in this highly polluted air every day of their lives? And how will it affect them and their future? One can only guess at how much damage has already been done. For indigent kids, its a double-whammy as they also do not get the proper amount of daily nutrients required for their healthy growth.

The culprits are obvious and everywhere. In the Philippines Diesel is cheaper than unleaded gasoline. However, the old surplus diesel engines discarded by Korea and Japan and used in Philippine jeepneys and buses pollute a lot more than their newer, technically-superior counterparts. If you add the cost of air-pollution related illnesses as well as the cost of cleaning up the grime that permeates the metropolis, diesel fuel would cost a lot more than unleaded gasoline.

Culprit number two is the two-stroke tricycle engine. Just one of these tricycles pollute as much as 50 cars—which is one reason why two-stroke motor vehicles are banned in many cities around the world. In the Philippines however, these tricycles abound contributing to a pollution level in metropolitan areas that can be immediately nauseating to a person used to the cleaner air of developed countries.

Inside this noxious cloud of fumes and particulates are children, and students, commuters, and ordinary working folk whose brain cells are slowly but surely being affected by the caustic environment that is all around them and from which there is no running away from.

They are also tomorrow's Filipinos whose burden it will be to move the country forward and complete in an increasingly globalized and highly technical world. Jose Rizal called them "the hope of the fatherland" yet they might someday see themselves as forsaken by their predecessors (and that includes us) who were unwilling to take the necessary steps and make the needed sacrifices so that they—at the very least—would have a fighting chance. The popular saying 'you reap what you sow' does not hold true in this particular context because it is our children who will reap what we sow today. And so far we have done pathetically little for them and instead are inexorably handicapping them by forcing them to breath in all that toxic air each and every day of their lives

Iglesia ni Cristo Executive Minister Eraño Manalo died

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Executive Minister Eraño G. Manalo passed away at age 84 yesterday, August 31. The death was confirmed by his doctor, Rey Melchor Santos.

The INC head died of cardiopulmonary arrest.

Ka Erdy to Iglesia ni Cristo members, was the Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo. He took over the administration of the church after the death of his father, then current executive minister Felix Manalo on April 12, 1963. He was instrumental in the propagation and expansion of the church internationally.

Trivia about Eraño G. Manalo:

His name is the reversal and elision of “new era,” which his father used to describe what he felt was “a new Christian era” as the Iglesia ni Cristo was established.

INC spokesperson Bienvenido Santiago said that Manalo’s remains would lie in state at INC’s Central Temple in Quezon City. Further details would be announced, Santiago added.

My thoughts are with the Manalo family and the Iglesia ni Cristo Church.

Iglesia ni Cristo mourns death of chief minister Eraño Manalo

IGLESIA NI Cristo (INC) executive minister Eraño "Ka Erdy" G. Manalo died on Monday at the age of 84, the church announced yesterday.

An official statement from the INC said Mr. Manalo died of cardiopulmonary arrest at his residence.

The INC, which has about two million members, is considered a political force with politicians seeking its endorsement during elections as the group practices bloc voting.

Proof of this influence was the Senate and House of Representatives’ decision to suspend sessions yesterday in deference to Mr. Manalo, even as many lawmakers are expected to extend their condolences or attend the wake at the INC headquarters along Don Mariano Marcos (Commonwealth) Ave. in Diliman, Quezon City. The INC has yet to announce interment plans.

The church had endorsed the candidacies of presidents Ferdinand E. Marcos, Joseph E. Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

There is no official announcement yet on Mr. Manalo’s successor, although his son Eduardo is current deputy executive minister. Eraño took over the church’s leadership from his father, Felix, who founded the organization in 1914.

"We request the ministers and evangelical workers, church officers and members of the INC to pray to God for his continued guidance for the whole church and to give us strength to enable us to bear this terrible loss and grief," Bienvenido Santos, INC spokesman, said in the statement yesterday.

The INC, which recently celebrated its 95^th anniversary, owns a television network as well as other businesses, and the Manalos are regarded as among the most powerful families in modern Philippine history.

The INC and other indigenous churches often clash with the teachings of the Roman Catholic church, the main religion in the Philippines that counts over 80% of the 92 million population as members. Sect members believe that Felix was the last messenger of God, and that the Holy Trinity does not exist.

Meanwhile, Jesus is Lord (JIL) church founder Eduardo C. Villanueva extended his condolences to the INC. "His quiet but commanding presence in many social and national affairs will be particularly missed. Bro. Eddie, however, trusts that Ka Erdy has left a ministry that will carry on his legacy of contributing to no-nonsense nation building," a JIL statement read.

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines president Angel N. Lagdameo told reporters he "would like to express my prayerful condolences to his bereaved family and the INC community. May he rest in peace." — Emilia Narni J. David and AFP