The following text was grabbed from the leading newspaper in the Philippines; the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Iglesia ni Cristo pastor, wife, son found dead in chapel

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=48314

By Marlon Ramos
Southern Luzon Bureau
Last updated 10:14pm (Mla time) 02/08/2007

IMUS, Cavite, Philippines — A pastor of the Iglesia ni Cristo, his wife and their six-year-old son were found dead inside their chapel in Ternate, Cavite on Thursday.
The victims were identified as Darius Api, 34, his wife Antery, 36, and son Kurt Russel.
Senior Superintendent Mark Edson Belarma, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Calabarzon, said the three were found dead inside the pastor’s room in the chapel.
In a text message, Belarma said the three were shot with a .45 pistol. The bodies were discovered at around 1 p.m. by an unnamed church member.
He said initial investigation showed the three could have been killed before 4 a.m. Thursday.
Belarma would not give other details of the incident.
A senior police official from Cavite, who requested anonymity, also declined to give details of the case, saying that Iglesia ni Cristo “asked the police to refrain from giving information to the media.”
The Philippine Daily Inquirer tried to contact Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, Calabarzon police director, to inquire about the killings but his mobile phone was turned off.
Radovan is a member of Iglesia ni Cristo.

I was in the Philippines that time when this happened, I knew this happened way before it got published; it had almost no media coverage, a direct manipulation of the media…

My sources tell me that the suspect was the pastor’s brother, and it was a case of land dispute. The suspect also had access to their church, a member of their cult; later labeled as a former member because of the crime…

My questions remained unanswered after; was the land grabbing issue really the reason for such crime? Is the pastor using his authority/powers to achieve his personal interests? Questions that came really  so unanswerable because of such cover-up, a clear manipulation and situation on how this cult uses its influence in the Filipino society for their “best” interest.

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