The block voting Iglesia Ni Cristo’s endorsement of presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and his running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio should swing a considerable chunk of votes to the current frontrunners in the national elections with a week to go before election day.
The pressure should be mounting on the part of the opposition and other candidates as days trickle down.
Traditionally, the coveted block vote of the INC is always being sought for by candidates from national to local level being the biggest congregation mandating members to vote its chosen candidates.
The tacit endorsement of the INC could spell a lot in the decisive runup to the polls on May 9. Given the huge lead by the Marcos-Duterte-Carpio tandem, the addition of the INC vote is really a big boost. The INC vote came at the heels of the endorsement of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) under Chairman Nur Misuari who pledged support to the Uniteam.
Not to be disheartened by not getting the INC vote, the second-running Robredo-Pangilinan camp is trying to downplay the impact saying they can counter the INC numbers with votes from other religious congregations particularly the Catholics. The Robredo-Pangilinan team is banking the Catholic Church will deliver the votes for them.
About 85 percent of voters in the country identify as Catholic.
The INC has millions of followers overseas and at least 2 percent of registered voters are members of INC. Historically, the INC is considered solid and the value of an endorsement is definitely a boost.
We foresee the opposition to deploy massive ground campaigning going house to house and community to community in the remaining days of the campaign.
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
