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ON JULY 27, 2014, the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) celebrates its centennial anniversary. The only indigenous Philippine church, the Iglesia ni Cristo now boasts of millions of members of 110 races in six continents and more than 100 countries.

From its humble beginnings in July 27, 1914 at Punta, Sta. Ana in Manila, the INC’s founder Bro. Felix Y. Manalo strove hard to lay down the foundation. A foundation which his son and successor Bro. Eraño G. Manalo built on to increase the church’s membership by establishing congregations in various parts of the country then the world. And it is in this global setting that new INC Executive Minister Eduardo V. Manalo has led the church in its 100^th year.

Though notoriously known for its bloc-voting during elections, the Iglesia ni Cristo is more than just a simple religious organization and as such should also be acknowledged in its other more productive undertakings. It has a regular outreach program in all parts of the country dubbed “Lingap sa Mamayan”. This program later evolved into a “Lingap-Pamamahayag” where church members reach out to common folk through medical and humanitarian missions followed by sessions where the Iglesia ni Cristo’s basic religious doctrines and beliefs are shared. This program has become massive that traffic rerouting schemes are always implemented wherever these are held due to the massive number of people who join them.

But above all these, the Iglesia ni Cristo has remained true to its core doctrines and beliefs; doctrines and beliefs that have since served as one of the moral compasses of this country and its leaders. Far more than its global reach and its current penchant to decimate world records, the Iglesia ni Cristo serves as the beacon of hope in our country’s troubled landscape.

And as the Iglesia ni Cristo celebrates its 100^th anniversary, we wish them the best and we pray that the church be more successful and progressive in its drive to save souls in this blighted world.

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THE POWER outage that lasted for a total of almost 12 hours on July 17 got on everyone’s nerve. The outage was unannounced, unexpected and totally unwelcome. To make matters worse, the Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative was unaware of what was happening, adding more chagrin to its consumers—or member-consumers as INEC is wont to call them.

INEC’s customer service—or whatever they call it they telephone operators—were totally clueless about the situation. Add to this the fact that they are rude and do not anything about proper courtesies when dealing with the very people who pay for their salaries. The problem may have been caused by the National Grid Corp., but for the power distribution utility to not even know what caused the outage and how long it would last was solely INEC’s fault.

It may be true that toppled electric poles as result of typhoon “Glenda” caused the forced and unscheduled rotational brownout but for people concerned to be informed about this after the fact is not only irritating but begs the question: so what does INEC really know about the power situation?

They are not mere collectors as they are wont to mouth every time power problems arise; they are in charge of a franchise that covers the whole province. And as the ones in charge, it is their responsibility to give the services commensurate to the income and the rates they are collecting. Among these responsibilities include the sensibility to at least warn their consumers of impending outages—more so if they last almost 12 hours.

Electricity is the engine that drives progress and development. The lack of it—even the untimely and unannounced power interruptions—would definitely put a monkey wrench on all well thought plans.

Information—especially in this social media age—is the new power that guides people. And even if power supply fluctuates, information does not. It is here where INEC should have come in and informed their consumers about the inconvenient outages that are coming our way. Hopefully, this distribution utility would become more sensitive to the needs of their consumer and finally begin thinking of their welfare before their own.