Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez (Facebook)

Santa Rosa City lone district Rep. Dan Fernandez says the Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) shouldn't be dragged in the discussions of the House quad-committee (quad-comm).

"I try not to mention the name of INC eh dahil nga po hindi naman po talaga sila involved dito," Fernandez, a co-chairman of the special four-way panel said in a virtual interview Thursday, Oct. 24. 

(I try not to mention the name of INC because they're not really involved in this.) 

He says the only reason why the religious group is being mentioned in the hearings is because former National Police Commission (Napolcom) commissioner Edilberto Leonardo--a key figure in the bloody war on drugs during the previous Duterte administration--is an INC member. 

"Sa aking pananaw dapat ihiwalay natin ang isyung yun sapagkat yung ginawa ni commissioner Leonardo ay personal na bagay na ginampanan niya bilang isang pulis at ang kanyang pananampalataya ay separate yun," the Laguna solon said. 

(In my opinion, we should keep that issue separate because commissioner Leonardo's actions were personally carried out in his capacity as a policeman and his faith had nothing to do with it.) 

Fernandez called on his House colleagues to be cautious in mentioning Leonardo's religious affiliation in the hearings. 

"Yung ibang [House] members nababanggit po yung INC, nasasaktan yung iba nating kapatid sa INC (The other House members have been mentioning the INC, some of our countrymen who are from the INC get hurt by this) and that, we don't want to happen kasi wala naman pong issue against INC," he said. 

In a quad-comm hearing last Oct. 11, former Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) general manager Royina Garma claimed that she had mentioned Leonardo to Duterte in 2016 as someone who could implement the "Davao model" on a nationwide scale. 

READ THIS: 

https://mb.com.ph/2024/10/22/garma-gets-phone-call-from-duterte 

Garma said she only did so after Duterte asked her for recommendations, with the requirement that the person must come from the INC. 

The Davao model as per Garma involves the grant of cash rewards to police for every drug suspects killed. Critics of the Duterte drug war have claimed that over 30,000 were slain during this campaign. 

Garma later told the quad-comm during its Oct. 22 hearing that Duterte called her on Oct. 17 while she was in detention at the House of Representatives. 

In the phone call, the ex-president explained to Garma that he prefered INC members because they "knew how to handle money".