Could it be OPLAN: DISCREDIT THE PREACHER? Background: On August 16, 2013, a certain Kel Fabie published on Yahoo!

News an article entitled 8 Scandals Far Worse Than Chito Mirandas http://ph.news.yahoo.com/8-scandals-far-worse-chitomiranda-104528051.html. (Chito Miranda, Jr., incidentally, is a Filipino lead singer for the band Parokya ni Edgar. On August 3, 2013, video snippets of Miranda having sex with his girlfriend Neri Naig were leaked and became viral hits in many social media sites but Fabie, in his article, did not consider it even a scandal of sort). Save for one (1) religious preacher who landed in the number 8 position from the list, all the others are either past or present government officials, politicians and associates involved in large scale graft and corruption in government and other forms of criminal acts. The authors strange inclusion of a lone religious personality from the list of scandals in politics and governance had placed his intention in serious doubt, hence, the consistency and integrity of his work necessitates further scrutiny. In the spirit of fairness, this report aims to present an impartial assessment on the credibility of his article and to ferret out the probability of an ulterior motive behind the publication of his own preferential list of scandals. Findings: A. In his list of 8 Scandals Far Worse Than Chito Mirandas, Fabie enumerated in reverse order the following incidents and personalities involved in what to him are scandals: 8. The Bro. Eli Scandal: In 2006, Brother Eli Soriano of Ang Dating Daan fame was indicted on rape charges by his accuser, Daniel Veridiano. The case has been junked then reopened, and as of present, is still languishing in the court. If he is guilty, this is a scandal that would rock his church. If he is innocent, this is a scandal of clear religious oppression, given that the case against him has already been junked, but then Justice Secretary Gonzales insisted on re-filing the case against him, not to mention the attempt to make it seem like the Interpol itself was looking for him. 7. The AFP Pabaon Scandal: In 2011, the Philippines was shocked by a scandal involving alleged Pabaon money to retiring AFP heads, wherein they would receive millions of pesos diverted from other sources and purposes. 6. The NBN-ZTE Scam: This contract, to the tune of $329 Million, was supposed to bring the nations internet up to speed with most of the rest of the world, but bribes, sweetheart deals, and everything else in between was apparently involved. 5. Hello, Garci Scandal 4. Cybercrime Law 3. The MNLF is Back to Its Old Tricks: Completely ignoring years of peace talks and negotiations, MNLF head Nur Misuari is attempting to secede from the Philippines. 2. Sex for Flight Scandal: Multiple Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) based in the Middle East have been alleging that instead of helping their countrymen, some unscrupulous embassy and labor officials have been exploiting their plight by sexually molesting or pimping these OFWs in exchange for plane tickets.

1. The PDAF Scandal: We always knew our tax money was being screwed around with, but we had very little concrete ideas about how it happens until the PDAF scandal erupted this year: multiple congressmen and senators were funneling millions, even billions, of our money into organizations that had next to no legitimacy. All eyes turned to Janet Lim-Napoles, as her name has been tied to a big chunk of these so-called ghost projects, and she is currently on the run. B. Bro. Eli had been facing numerous libel cases in various courts in the Philippines and they were all filed by the Manalos church Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC). The INC also filed sometime in 2001 a frustrated murder case and in 2004, a rape case against Bro. Eli. The frustrated murder case was dismissed during the early part of 2010 while the rape case had been ongoing. Complainants Bernardo Santiago in frustrated murder case and Daniel Veridiano in rape case were former members of ADD who were excommunicated for adultery in the case of Santiago and multiple rape and malverzation of funds in the case of Veridiano. The moment they became privileged members of the INC, that was the time they filed their respective complaint against him. Incidentally, the rape case had been previously dismissed at the level of the Fiscals office in Pampanga but the surprise intervention of the Department of Justice then under Secretary Raul Gonzales who was under Manalos sphere of influence, hastily reversed the earlier resolution and ordered the subsequent re-filing of the dismissed rape case. References: 1) http://truthhuntsman.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/the-nightmare-of-false-prophets-part-2-hatedby-inc-in-gods-name/ 2) http://totoonato.newsvine.com/_news/2010/09/23/5163361-indecentpolitical-affair-and-injustices-to-remember?threadId=1086017 Assessment and analysis: There is no urgent necessity for further arguments when it comes to evaluating the acts and performances of past and present government officials and politicians who had been or have been engaged in politics and governance. Public office is a public trust so that they are naturally the subject of strictest public scrutiny however subjective such scrutiny used to be. Being politicians and public servants (many of whom have lots to do with PDAF scandal), they are expected to be subservient to public opinion. Hence, the ranking of politically related scandal herein presented from number 7 down to number 1 is hardly contestable. What seems appalling in this case is the strange inclusion of a lone religious personality (in number 8) among the list of previous and present politicians/government officials involved in corruption/other criminal acts. Considering that all the rest are categorized as politically related anomalies/scams/scandals, therefore, Bro. Elis inclusion is an anomalous proposition. The list could have been categorically consistent and believable had the author considered for instance the Chief Justice Scandal by Renato Corona (who was impeached and removed from office). Ex Chief Justice Corona should have been a perfect replacement to Bro. Elis place on the list. The preacher has nothing to do whatsoever with politics and governance and his reputation as a victim of religious intolerance and persecution (perpetrated by his foremost detractors, Manalos Iglesia Ni Cristo) is well known. Moreover, the statement from the author himself: if he is innocent, this is a scandal of clear religious oppression is a manifestation that he is not fully convinced that Bro. Eli is liable. Therefore, such benefit of doubt should have effectively deprived the author of anymore valid reason and resolve to proceed with the odd inclusion of the lone preacher on the list. Instead of being reasonably guided however, the author even presented the purported scandal list in reverse order from 8th to 1st so that the name of Bro. Eli appears to be the banner headline. Furthermore, the application of widely circulated Chito Mirandas scandal as the articles introduction would tend to enhance internet search accessibility to his dubious article. Search engine optimization (SEO) is therefore calibrated to maximize the negative media exposure brought about by the banner headline position of the specially featured preacher. Noticeably,

the author even managed to use blog links sympathetic to Bro. Eli apparently in a feigned attempt to project himself as not being biased in reporting. In short, the authors temerity for trickery and pretentiousness to project image of objectivity and fairness is obvious. Nonetheless, it can never erase the evident shadow of his devious and malicious intention against Bro Eli, who, in reality, is his articles main target personality. Conclusion: Kel Fabie article about his so-called 8 scandals is obviously nothing more than a poorly executed propaganda plot against Bro. Eli Soriano (apparently sponsored by his detractors) which should have been entitled instead as OPLAN: DISCREDIT THE PREACHER.