The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) organized a National Rally for Peace on January 13, 2025, highlighting the country's pressing social and economic challenges. The rally emphasized the need for national unity and progress, urging the government to prioritize these concerns over partisan political conflicts.
I recently attended the Iglesia ni Cristo ( INC )-organized National Rally for Peace held on January 13, 2025, at the Quirino Grandstand, which overflowed into Rizal Park and beyond. In my previous column, I confessed to being clueless about the group's true intentions for this event. However, after watching INC TV in the morning leading up to the rally and listening to the speeches during the event itself, I believe I've arrived at an answer.
INC TV reported that the Philippines ranked 87th out of 170 countries in the 2023 Global Social Progress Index, scoring 66.16 out of a possible 100. This represents the country's worst performance since its inclusion in the index in 2011. According to Social Progress Imperative, the organization behind this index, it's one of the world's largest curated collections of social and environmental data, uniquely concentrated on the non-economic aspects of global social performance. The INC utilized this metric, among others, to justify the National Rally for Peace, arguing that the country faces more pressing social and economic concerns that deserve the government's attention over the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.Consistent with this stance, INC members at the rally carried placards expressing their desire for the government to prioritize these crucial social and economic issues. Some of their messages included: 'Aming kahilingan kaunlaran ng bayan,' which translates to 'Our wish is the progress of the nation,' 'Serbisyo huwag sariling benepisyo,' meaning 'Service, not self-interest,' and 'INC is for progress.'I delved deeper into the Global Social Progress Index, which is divided into several categories, such as basic needs, foundations of well-being, and opportunity. The Philippines performed poorly in all three categories: basic needs (95th out of 170), foundations of well-being (88th out of 170), and opportunity (79th out of 170).Under 'basic needs,' the country fared best in subcategories like 'dissatisfaction with housing affordability' (18th), 'money stolen' (34th), and satisfaction with water quality (38th). However, it struggled in areas like interpersonal violence (151st), child stunting (136th), and household air pollution (117th). In the 'foundations of well-being' category, the Philippines ranked first in mobile telephone subscriptions. Other areas of strength included recycling (6th), and satisfaction with the availability of quality healthcare (16th). Unfortunately, despite the availability of quality healthcare, equal access remained a challenge (142nd). The country also performed poorly in equal access to quality education (131st) and species protection (127th). Lastly, in the 'opportunity' category, the Philippines excelled in freedom over life choices (10th), acceptance of gays and lesbians (23rd), and quality-weighted universities (50th). However, it lagged behind in equal protection index (143rd), equal access index (137th), and citable documents (124th). Examining the Global Social Progress Index paints a picture of numerous social and environmental issues requiring the Philippine government's full attention. Yet, Congress has dedicated a considerable amount of time to pursuing the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.Some have interpreted the INC's call for 'pagkakaisa' and 'kapayapaan' (unity and peace) as a naive plea for reconciliation between the feuding Marcos and Duterte political families. This view, however, oversimplifies the INC's message. In a mature democracy, national unity and peace don't necessitate the absence of political disagreements. Instead, the INC envisions a nation where its leaders, regardless of their political affiliations, unite towards a common goal: national progress and development. I reached this conclusion by analyzing the placards displayed by the group during the National Rally for Peace.However, the INC has observed, again based on the placards, that this pursuit of unity and peace for national progress and development has been overshadowed by unproductive and petty political squabbles
INC National Rally For Peace Global Social Progress Index Social Issues Political Unity Philippines National Development Impeachment Duterte Marcos
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