SC orders Iglesia ni Cristo head to produce ‘abducted’ members

By MARK MERUEÑAS, GMA News

Published October 23, 2015 2:42pm

(Updated 3:13 p.m.) The Supreme Court has ordered Iglesia ni Cristo executive minister Eduardo Manalo to appear before the Court of Appeals, and to bring with him the members who were allegedly held by the church against their will.

In two-page order released Friday, the SC issued writs of amparo and habeas corpus against Manalo, and ordered the CA to hear and decide on the petition filed by Anthony Menorca and Jungko Otsuka.

Anthony is the brother of Lowell Menorca, who is allegedly being kept at the INC central office in Quezon CIty, along with his wife, daughter, and a househelp.

"Considering the allegations contained, the issues raised and the arguments adduced in the petition, it is necessary and proper to issue the writs of amparo and habeas corpus prayed for,” said the SC.

“Respondents… are hereby required to… appear and produce the persons of Lowell II Menorca, Jinky Otsuka-Menorca, Yurie Keiko Otsuka and Abegail Yamson before the Court of Appeals on November 3, 2015 at 10 a.m.,” read the order.

Manalo and the other respondents were likewise ordered to comment on the petition through a "verified return" of the writs to be filed with the CA within five days.

GMA News Online has contacted the Iglesia ni Cristo for comment but has yet to receive a reply as of posting time.

The issuance of the writs, however, does not mean the petitioners are already being given the privileges that come with the writs of amparo and habeas corpus.

It will still be the CA, to which the SC referred the case, that would have to conduct a hearing on the matter and eventually decide whether or not to grant the petitioners' request.

The CA was directed to have the case raffled among the CA justices. The appeals court will then hear the petition and decide on the case within 10 days after its submission for decision.

In their petition, Jungko and Anthony asked the SC to issue the writs against Manalo, Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago, and Rolando Esguerra.

A writ of amparo is a remedy available to any person whose right to life, liberty, and security is violated or threatened with violation by an unlawful act or omission.

A habeas corpus plea, meanwhile, is a legal action that gives a person the right to seek relief from unlawful detention. It serves as an instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary government action.

Anthony and Jungko both claimed that Lowell, his wife Jinky Otsuka-Menorca, their daughter, and their househelp Abbegail Yanson were being held by the church against their will.

Anthony, who is now under the Witness Protection Program, earlier claimed his brother and his family were being held against their will by the INC.

Anthony had earlier alleged that he could not get in touch with Lowell, also known as Ka Boyet, who was arrested in Cavite on July 17 for supposedly threatening commuters with a hand grenade.

Lowell was released on July 25 after the complainants against him signed affidavits of desistance. He later went public and denied the abduction accusations made by his brother.

‘Incarceration’

The nine-page petition claimed Lowell was "forcibly" taken by armed men on July 16, 2015 after a church service at the Iglesia ni Cristo chapel in Bulan, Sorsogon.

His wife, Jinky, also eventually "surrendered" to the INC Sanggunian, the church's highest advisory body, after Esguerra told her over the phone "in a very menacing manner" that she would never see her husband again if she would not appear at the Iglesia ni Cristo Central Office in Quezon City.

Jungko claimed she was recently allowed to visit her sister Jinky "after months of incarceration" inside the Iglesia ni Cristo Central compound, where she allegedly witnessed the "horribly stressful conditions in which Lowell, Jinky and their company were in."

Jungko said while they were not kept inside prison cells, her sister and her family were not allowed to wander about inside the Iglesia ni Cristo compound.

The petition claimed three months of incarceration had already taken its toll on the Menorca family, with the members gradually developing emotional and psychological stress.

On October 16, a new set of guards was assigned to the Menorcas. The guards allegedly had with them a sack of high-caliber rifles and ammunition.

Several men have likewise been speaking to Lowell, alternately threatening and cajoling him not to speak out against the church.

To this day, Lowell, his family and their househelp are still not allowed to leave the Iglesia ni Cristo compound, and are constantly surrounded by guards, with Jungko being the only person allowed to visit them.

Other ‘abductions’

Just two months ago, the Iglesia ni Cristo leadership was caught in a similar predicament when expelled minister, Isaias Samson Jr., claimed he and his family have likewise been held against their will by the church, after he was accused of exposing alleged irregularities in the church. Samson eventually filed a criminal case against several members of the Iglesia ni Cristo before the Department of Justice.

A huge contingent of Iglesia members did not welcome Samson's moves and decided to rally outside the DOJ main office in Manila on August 27, and eventually a portion of EDSA-Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City that weekend. Invoking the separation of state and church, the protesters appealed to De Lima not to "meddle" in church matters.

The protesters only dispersed after their leaders met privately with Malacanñang officials.

Samson's complaint, along with another one filed by another former Iglesia member Lito Fruto, against church officials remain pending with the DOJ. —With a report from Amita Legaspi/KG, GMA News

Tags: iglesianicristoabductions, iglesianicristo, eduardomanalo, supremecourt, lowellmenorca