Bishop Emeritus and one (of three) spiritual advisers of El Shaddai, Bishop Teodoro Bacani of Novaliches slammed El Shaddai founder, Mike Velarde for endorsing candidate Bongbong Marcos for president, which he did without consulting with the elders. He said the members are free to vote according to their conscience.
BISHOP Emeritus and El Shaddai spiritual adviser Teodoro Bacani has every right to lambast Mike Velarde, who for several past elections had endowed himself the ‘godly power’ to anoint candidates in every Philippine election as if his ‘blessing’ would mean the betterment of Philippine society.
"Hindi [Velarde] siya puwedeng mag-obliga sa kaniyang mga followers na bumoto para sa ganitong kandidato o para sa ganung kandidato," he said.
"Bahagi ng kalayaan ng isang Katoliko ay makapamili ng kaniyang iboboto ayon sa kaniyang nalalaman at ayon sa kaniyang konsensiya."
"Sa El Shaddai, walang command vote na katulad sa Iglesia Ni Cristo," he added.
In the interview, Bacani slammed Velarde's endorsement to Marcos as "downright wrong."
The Bishop-Emeritus explained that Velarde, who founded El-Shaddai, did not even consult any of the group’s elders, Bishop Jess Mercado, who is the Bishop of Parañaque, him and Father Sonny Declaros—all spiritual advisers of the El Shaddai before announcing the supposed endorsement.
Bacani said Velarde did not consult El Shaddai elders about such move.
"That is not El Shaddai. Maliwanag ba 'yun? That is Bro. Mike Velarde, who is head of El Shaddai, but it is not the opinion of the body," he added.
He is not El Shaddai
In Filipino, Bacani explained that though Velarde founded and projected himself as servant-leader of El-Shaddai, he is not the El-Shaddai-DWXI Partners Fellowship International Inc. (the original group) which is wider and bigger than him.
He further clarified that despite Velarde’s move, every member of El Shaddai is free to vote or endorse whoever they want, countering claims that the group practices bloc voting.
Bacani said Velarde’s endorsement of the BBM in tandem with Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte “does not reflect El-Shaddai-DWXI Partners Fellowship International Inc..”
In fact, Bacani himself slammed Velarde’s endorsement of Marcos Jr., which in his view “is very wrong because if there is anyone who can be endorsed for president, it is not Bongbong Marcos.”
He stressed that Marcos himself, despite seeking for “unity”, has not even regretted, along with his family, the atrocities committed by the Marcoses during the Martial Law Era.
Billions were looted at that time, not just millions and many have been recovered by the government, so that’s wrong.
Based on the World Bank-United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s Stolen Asset Recovery report, the Marcoses amassed an estimated $5 to $10 billion, or more than P500 billion, in ill-gotten wealth.
The Presidential Commission on Good Government, the government agency tasked with recovering billions of dollars plundered by Marcos and his allies, has recovered a total of P170 billion in the past 30 years.
Bacani also railed at alleged efforts from the Marcos camp to rewrite history.
"He and his family have not apologized for what happened. Nagkakaroon pa ngayon ng revisionism kung tatawagin para pagandahin ang imahe nila at palabasin na sila pa ang biktima. Samantalang ang bayang Pilipino nabiktima nila. Labing-pitong taon," he said.
The Catholic prelate added, "Never again, Marcos. Except if he says I am sorry for what my father did and we will return whatever money has not yet been returned to the Philippine government and to the Filipinos."
El Shaddai’s history
Coming from a heart ailment in 1978, Velarde started a weekly Bible-quoting radio show on DWXI, which he acquired in 1982 as part of a real estate deal. Listeners, he claimed, began reporting that his voice had cured their afflictions. In 1984, he called the show “El Shaddai” a biblical name for God that he found in an American religious pamphlet.
He then held monthly prayer rallies outside the station as the numbers kept growing, the rallies were moved to various venues like a football stadium and then several times moved to Quirino Grandstand, the open grounds outside the Philippine International Convention Center, the Cultural Center of the Philippines and Amvel Business Park in San Dionisio, Paranaque (owned by the family).
In 1992, his movement expanded to television in government-owned IBC delayed Sunday night broadcast of the weekly Saturday Family Appointments becoming the sixth longest- reigning religious program in Philippine TV history.
He also added a faith-based drama anthology series Mga Himala at Gintong Aral ni El Shaddai from 1994 until its cancellation in 1997. Velarde hosted the series.
In 1998, Velarde and Eddie Villanueva of Jesus is Lord Church fought legally over control of the Christian television station DZOE-TV (Channel 11). Villanueva had the franchise and the authority to operate the facility, but Velarde, using political connections, was able to import transmission equipment, the value of which he claims to have converted into equity in the station.
Congress intervened and awarded Villanueva the right to acquire the frequency, with him paying Velarde for the stock and assets held by Delta Broadcasting System (DBS).
El Shaddai Movement had grown worldwide rapidly in the last decade and, as of 2005, had a reported 8 million members.
On August 20, 2009, El Shaddai inaugurated a ₱1 billion House of Prayer on a 10-hectare site in Amvel Business Park.
The cost does not include the land, which will be paid for over 20 years.
The building is 10,000 square meters and seats 16,000 with standing room for another 25,000, with space on the site for an overflow of the crowd.
The building was inaugurated by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the fourteenth president of the Philippines, on Velarde's 70th birthday.
Being a Roman Catholic movement, its diocesan bishop is Rev Jessie Mercado of the Diocese of Parañaque, while its Spiritual Director is the Bishop Emeritus of Novaliches Teodoro Bacani.
In 2005, Professor Katharine L. Wiegele, a sociocultural anthropologist whose current research interests include new religious movements and religious change, mass media and religion, global urban and popular culture and colonialism, said that El Shaddai had spread prosperity theology outside Protestant Christianity in the Philippines.
It is a standard in every El Shaddai service that Velarde or his subalterns would ask the flock to open their umbrellas (inside church grounds) to catch the (imaginary) graces being given by God.
Tags: #ElShaddai, #MikeVelarde, #BishopTeodorBacani, #politicalendorsement, #election2022