The three-day rally of the Iglesia ni Cristo from November 16 to 18 was marketed as a national awakening, a supposed thunderclap that would shake the political order and show the enduring power of the INC bloc. Instead, it became a national punchline. What the INC intended as a show of force ended up exposing how far their political influence has fallen—and how hopeless Sara Duterte’s presidential ambitions have become.
Let’s be blunt: the rallies flopped. The INC desperately tried to spark outrage after former Ako Bicol congressman Zaldy Co accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of masterminding budget insertions. But the “bombshell” was hollow—contradictory, unsupported, and so badly constructed that it collapsed under its own weight. Instead of igniting anger, it drew disbelief and ridicule. Co’s revelation was meant to be the rallying cry for regime change; it turned out to be a flimsy YouTube monologue.
But the bigger humiliation came from institutions the INC clearly did not expect to push back as hard as they did. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, Cardinal Advincula, and numerous Protestant groups issued unmistakable warnings. They called out those manipulating public sentiment, those exploiting political noise to install a preferred candidate—Sara Duterte. They urged sobriety, truth, and constitutional order. They essentially told INC: we know what you’re doing, and we reject it.
This united front from major Christian groups cut off the INC’s oxygen supply. And it revealed a truth INC has always avoided confronting: they do not speak for the Filipino people. Not anymore. Their Luneta crowd—600,000 by their own inflated count—was not a representation of national sentiment. It was an internal roll call. Attendance wasn’t a sign of mass support; it was compulsory participation. Outside Luneta, the nation shrugged. Traffic in malls was worse than the crowd in the rally. Families ate out, people shopped, workers went to their jobs. EDSA on Monday was the same as every other Monday: clogged, noisy, and indifferent.
If this was supposed to be a political earthquake, the country barely felt a tremor.
Even retired generals who lurked outside Camp Aguinaldo, clearly waiting for a “people power” momentum they fantasized would trigger a military swing, saw nothing. No groundswell. No national clamor. No masses demanding regime change. The soldiers didn’t budge because there was nothing to respond to. If the INC could not even stir the city it occupies, how could it possibly shake the country?
And then came the awkward backpedal. After three days of compulsory attendance and almost no external support, the INC suddenly insisted they weren’t calling for revolution, coups, or snap elections. They were simply calling for accountability. It was damage control so transparent that it was almost embarrassing. The rallies failed so spectacularly that INC had no choice but to retreat behind legalism and “peaceful intent.” But everyone saw the original plan—and everyone saw it collapse.
For Sara Duterte, this meltdown is political poison. She has tied herself so tightly to the INC that their failure is now hers. No matter how she tries to distance herself later, religious groups across the country will remember that these rallies, these destabilization attempts, this political gambit—all existed to pave her path to Malacañang. The CBCP will not forget. Protestant leaders will not forget. Ordinary Catholics who already regret the INC-backed election of Rodante Marcoleta will absolutely not forget. In fact, this fiasco may inspire something the country has never seen before: a unified Catholic vote.
The INC drew a line in the sand, and the country stepped over it without hesitation. Worse for Sara, the INC went all-in far too early. They played their biggest card three years before the election and revealed that it was weaker than expected. What else can they possibly pull out in 2028? They’ve already burned their moment. They miscalculated spectacularly, and Sara Duterte is the one who will pay the highest political price.
This is why Sara Duterte will never be president. The INC went all in and lost. They played their biggest card far too early and revealed its weakness. They exposed that their once-vaunted political influence no longer has the power to swing national momentum. And in tying her fortunes so tightly to a religious bloc already losing public credibility, Sara Duterte alienated the broader electorate. Filipinos are already regretting that a single INC-backed candidate like Rodante Marcoleta slipped into the Senate; they are certainly not going to hand Malacañang to someone with even deeper ties to the same group.
In the end, the rallies did not shake the government. They did not sway public opinion. They did not ignite a revolution. All they did was show that Filipinos are no longer willing to be dictated upon by any religious organization, and that the presidency cannot and will not be decided by the INC. Sara Duterte may have believed otherwise, but the country has already moved on. And that is why she will never sit in Malacañang.
