Iglesia Ni Cristo orders its newscasters not to hit Arroyo

I'm not surprised if this is true. I've stopped watching NET25 since the middle of last year pa.

And I wonder if MAVERICK, who works for NET25 as news commentator and sometimes posts in this forum, got that memo too?

INC orders its newscasters not to hit Arroyo—Inquirer source

Oct 22, 2005
Updated 00:37am (Mla time)
Juliet Labog-Javellana
Inquirer News Service

THE POLITICALLY influential Iglesia Ni Cristo has directed its broadcasters to refrain from hitting the Arroyo administration, sources trusted by the Inquirer said yesterday.

The Inquirer learned about the directive the same day the INC and the Catholic charismatic group El Shaddai launched a joint appeal, in newspaper advertisements, to both the administration and the opposition to end their political squabbles, saying these were hurting the economy.

The reported directive came on the heels of an administration move to crack down on protests and criticisms against President Macapagal-Arroyo, whom the INC had backed in the 2004 presidential election.

The sources, who asked not to be identified, also said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Generoso Senga recently paid a visit to the INC temple in Quezon City.

Senga talked with some INC officials but the sources did not identify these officials or say what they and Senga talked about.

News about the INC directive coincided with the surprise "absence'' of the hard-hitting tandem of Nixon Kua and Ros Olgado in their morning program "Mata ng Agila'' over dzEC, the AM radio owned by the INC.

Kua, who once headed the Philippine Tourism Authority during the administration of ousted President Joseph Estrada, and Olgado, a veteran journalist, refused to comment on the reported directive to INC broadcasters to go slow on their commentaries and reportage about the Arroyo administration.

"I am on an indefinite leave for personal reasons,'' was all Kua would say.

Olgado, on his part, said: "I'm just on vacation.''

Sources said the Olgado-Kua tandem had been making critical commentaries about the administration even during the impeachment process against Ms Arroyo but that they were never told off until now.