The Church and the Candidate: a symbiotic relationship
By Georgia

The Church's involvement in electoral politics here in the Philippines has been proven to be able to make or break political aspirants. In a highly religious country like ours, it's not surprising that many of our countrymen turn to the Church to tell them whom to vote.
A trip down memory lane
The Catholic Church's influence in electoral politics became most significant after the martial law when the 1986 Presidential elections seemed more like a choice between the good and the bad. Since the Church is supposed to be the moral authority, they, as expected, gave their support to Cory Aquino.
Unfortunately, Church support doesn't always mean a sure win. In the 1992 Presidential elections, the Catholic Church gave its support to Ramon Mitra (who came in 4th), and junked Fidel Ramos apparently because he was Protestant.
Back to the future
The reason why the Church endorses certain candidates is that it is their moral duty to guide their people to vote for the right people. The candidate's on the other hand, seek support from the Church for the main reason of getting more votes. So, it's nothing new when candidates start showing up at prayer rallies and services during the campaign period.
A few days ago, the Iglesia ni Kristo (INC) came out with a list of senatorial candidates they support (8 from PPC, 5 from PnM). Since the INC has about 5 million followers who are required to vote for whomever INC's head Erano Manalo endorses, political parties and its candidates have been waiting anxiously for this list.

As mentioned earlier, church support doesn't mean a sure win for candidates and just because your Church supports certain candidates doesn't mean that they are the ones you should vote for. It still boils down to whom you think is right for the job. The Church's choices are not to be ignored, though, since they do give us a pretty good picture of which candidate is pretty good.