In response to Joel San Pedro regarding "thinking" members of the INC

So here I am at work, surfing the internet during my morning break, wondering what will happen next in the drama of the INC and lo and behold there is a new article on inquirer.net which relates a statement from the "thinking" members of the INC who are refusing to follow the INC leadership in their demands for a unified bloc vote this coming election.

I think this is very exciting news for the concerned INC membership as well as the country as a whole!

This is potentially paradigm changing news, signifying a potential loss of political influence for the INC leadership. If our politicians believe that the INC cannot offer up a solid bloc vote, there will come a stop to their kowtowing before the INC in order to gain their bloc vote support.

If the INC leadership loses their political influence, they will no longer enjoy the blind eye they have been enjoying from our government.

See the full article here:

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/747390/inc-thinking-members-to-defy-groups-practice-of-bloc-voting

To say that the INC badly needs a response to this article is a huge understatement. You would think that Edwil Zabala or the new darling of INC social media, Joel San Pedro, would take up the challenge, but no. They seem to be afraid to take a stance at the moment. Instead, Joel San pedro has simply posted a response written ostensibly by one of his followers. Why the sudden fear? Cat got your tongues?

Anyway here is the San Pedro "response," such as it is:

MY REACTION TO CERES DOYO’S ARTICLE ON “INC THINKING VOTERS"

Ceres Doyo is the least credible writer to pen a believable lie against the Iglesia Ni Cristo even if it is packaged as “news”.

Just google her writings about the INC especially the past few months. You’ll see that she does not like the INC at all. You'd even think she hates the INC.

I say this not because she is a former nun—I know of nuns who are friendly with INC, or at least civil with us members, even sitting with INC brethren in the movie house to watch the Felix Manalo movie. Maybe if Ms. Doyo did become a nun, she would not be that spiteful against the INC.

Spiteful? Okay, let me tone it down a bit. How about “condescending”? Yes, she is that. For, in coming up with a story about an unheard-of group of supposedly INC members and branding them as “Thinking” members—Doyo seems to imply that the rest of us INC members are not using our coconuts. Mindless? Morons? Idiots?

Even grade school pupils know that it is “bad” or rude to call anyone “bobo”. Doyo may argue that that didn’t come from her, but from her sources.

But who are her sources? She does not identify them. How do we know if there really are such sources or that they do exist? The thing is, we do not.

We only have to take Ms. Doyo’s word for it. She is a veteran columnist. She has won awards. She is also not new to facing libel suits. She seems to have mastered the craft of getting away with libel.

Maybe that’s why she thinks of herself highly—while looking down on us, INC members, as nothing but mindless fools who do not think.

Just because we INC members vote as one does not give anyone the right to call us “bobo” or “mindless” and “unthinking.”

On the contrary, the reason INC members remain united even in voting is because WE DO THINK—WE THINK and believe that unity is a Christian virtue that when we uphold, we give honor and glory to the one true God we worship and serve.

Ms. Doyo is a creative writer in her own right--an imaginative one at that. But I wish she would stop using her talent on to discriminate against her fellowmen whose religious beliefs she disagrees with. For, as the Ethical Journalism Network points out:

“And isn’t the need to SHOW HUMANITY and to AVOID INCITEMENT TO HATRED or violence OR DISCRIMINATION against individuals or vulnerable minorities, which is a cardinal virtue of journalism, also vital to ensuring respectful communications online?”

“Sticking to the facts and avoiding deceptive handling of the truth is important for journalism.”

This response is accredited to a Marlex Cantor but obviously echoes Joel San Pedro's own sentiments or he would not have re-posted it verbatim on his facebook page.

Is this the INC's best effort to save face and reputation? To slander others? To try to cast doubt on reporters that are only doing their jobs?

I'm going to get back on my soapbox now and ask if the INC has no other tactics than to badmouth their critics? The INC as the "one true church" should be able to stand on their own merits instead of trying to slam others. I'm of the opinion that the leadership of the INC is too far gone to care anymore. It's open season on anyone "NOT ONE WITH EVM." I will be watching who the INC is trying to bloc vote for, and just out of principle I will vote for someone else. Who's with me on this?

Thanks for your attention!