2 men offering to facilitate Iglesia endorsement for UNA bets taken into custody

Two men claiming to be members of the influential Iglesia ni Cristo and who allegedly offered to facilitate the group's endorsement for some senatorial candidates were taken into police custody Tuesday afternoon. United Nationalist Alliance campaign manager Tobias Tiangco sought the help of the Iglesia ni Cristo and the Philippine National Police in arranging a sting operation at a hotel in Mandaluyong City. "Kahapon nakatanggap ako ng text messages, nagsasabi siya ay taga-INC Central ... [Pero] ang tagubilin ng INC, pag may ganyan, i-report sa kanila," Tiangco said in an interview on dzBB radio. A separate report by dzBB's Tuesday Niu said the men claiming to be from the INC were allegedly asking for millions of pesos per candidate to be endorsed. The dzBB report said the men were brought to the PNP's Criminal Investigation and Detection Group headquarters for questioning. Tiangco quoted one of the first text messages reaching him as saying the sender was from the INC, and was asking for a confidential meeting. "Good a.m. Sir Toby, sorry to disturb you. 'Blank' gave me your cell phone number. We are from the INC. We would like to sit down with you privately and confidentially regarding ways to boost chance of UNA lagging candidates and secure chances...before INC makes its final official list," Tiangco read, quoting the text message and redacting a name from it. Tiangco said he called the INC Central to verify the matter, and the INC agreed to have one of its representatives accompany him. He said he and the INC representative met with the two men at the EDSA Shangri-La Hotel at 2 p.m. But he said that when he confronted them about the text messages, the men claimed they were merely soliciting advertisements. "Sabi nila hindi ho, nag-aalok kami ng ad. Sabi ko inaalok mo sa akin," Tiangco said. He also said the two refused to identify themselves or even produce IDs. — BM, GMA News