Whereas Menorca managed to escape to Canada, others have not been so fortunate, with a spate of killings occurring in recent years. While no connection between the INC and the murder has been officially drawn, the victims were all critical of the church. “They are willing to kill for [the leader of the church], and they can take that kind of mentality, that kind of approach, the aggressive approach outside the Philippines” states Rolando Rizon, a former INC minister in the United States.

This purge of voices critical to the direction taken by the INC under Manalo was mirrored by a rift in the INC’s First Family, as Manalo clashed with his siblings and mother in 2015. That year a video surfaced on Youtube of Manalo’s mother and younger brother Angel calling on INC members to protect them, claiming that their lives were in danger: both were later excommunicated from the church by Manalo. Angel and nephew Victor Eraño Hemedez were later arrested in 2017 following the discovery of a weapons cache on church property tied to the two men.

The circumstances surrounding this find are suspicious at best, as it would have been next to impossible for the police to gain access to INC property without the tacit consent of the INC’s leadership. The Church also lodged libel cases against journalists investigating the incident, who questioned why a church had a private armoury in the first place.

Are Eduardo Manalo and the INC the kingmakers of Filipino politics?

Iglesia Ni Cristo’s unsavoury connections to criminal elements and extra-judicial killings demonstrates that the church operates above the law in the Philippines. For instance, government inquiries into church affairs in 2015 resulted in the INC mobilizing thousands of followers to occupy a busy highway in Manilla in protest, severely hampering business as usual in the capital. One refugee claimant in Canada maintains that the INC “cannot be touched by the Philippine government, judiciary or law enforcement or even by the president himself.”