Expelled INC minister...

us alone,” the ex-INC minister said.

“I’ve known them (members of the Sanggunian) all my life, I know what they are capable to do to silence me,” he said, in between sobs. Beside him, his wife Jinky, likewise, cried as she listened to her husband.

Abduction confirmed At the height of the controversy on the alleged corruption inside the INC and the shocking expulsion of Cristina “Tenny” Manalo, and her son, Felix Nathaniel “Angel,” Menorca was reported abducted by several members of the religious group.

During his disappearance, Menorca’s relatives and friends believed that he was ordered killed by the members of the INC Sanggunian for being critical to the church.

Soon, it was reported that Menorca was arrested in Dasmarinas City, Cavite for a non-bailable offense of illegal possession of explosives.

Menorca later appeared in an interview on INC-run television station Net 25 and GMA-7 to deny that he was abducted.

But Menorca now insists that all his television interviews were made under duress and that he was kidnapped by the members of the INC, together with the QCPD.

The ex-INC minister further claimed that he and his family were illegally detained by top INC officials, who wanted to interrogate him about those critical of the Iglesia leadership.

“For three months we were there (INC compound), for 3 months we were incarcerated. We were never free to go out even though they promised us we can slowly introduce you to the outward world, slowly everything will be normal. I told them, I don’t want my child growing up knowing we were prisoners here,” he said.

Menorca claimed that he caught the ire of the INC leaders after he refused to pin down the estranged sibling of INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo as the culprit behind several critical blog posts circulating online at the time.

How it all began

He remembered that on July 26 (Sunday), the INC church where he was presiding suddenly became eerily quiet since most of their flock hurriedly went to their respective homes.

When he stepped out of the INC church, Menorca was caught by surprised when he was greeted by a group of armed men, who shouted at him “Dapa! Dapa! Kung ayaw mong masaktan!” before they covered his face with a jacket.

He vividly recalled that the men pointed their long firearms at him before he was dragged into an ambulance, where five more policemen and a certain Ka Benefrido Santiago, were waiting for him. Menorca said that Santiago was the team leader.

For 17 hours, Menorca recalled that the tight handcuffs were already cutting into his wrists and made his hand bloodied while he was being interrogated about Antonio Ebanghelista, a pen name of a blogger critical of the INC leadership. He was also asked to name others opposing the church.

Menorca, however, said he didn’t know any of the people behind the online aliases. He also offered to take the blame if only to spare his wife and child from threats against their lives.

“They can shoot me if they want; they can kill me if they want. Just leave my wife and my daughter alone. I asked where they were, they couldn’t tell me, they tried to pacify me with words, saying, ‘Okay lang sila’ (They’re okay),” he recalled.

“I asked them repeatedly to loosen the handcuffs because it hurt so much, my shoulders were about to fall off, my hands were bleeding. I kept on begging the police officers to even just remove my handcuffs, I’m not gonna fight them, they were all with guns,” he said.

What happened in Dasma Menorca also recalled that he was transferred from an ambulance to a high-end Coaster when they travelled from Sorsogon to Dasmarinas, Cavite. He also said that there was a former QCPD chief inside the vehicle with him as they traveled to Cavite.

When they reached Dasmarinas, Cavite, they met more members of the INC. He noticed that there was a rickety Kia car in front of the Coaster. He said they followed the car until they reached a cemetery where he was asked to transfer to the dilapidated vehicle.

When he soon began to notice then that the men were starting to leave the area, Menorca said that the he became more fearful of his life because he knew that he was going to be killed.

Then he saw someone throw a grenade at the back of the car where he was transferred. Thinking that he’ll be dead in a matter of seconds, Menorca said that he started praying for his safety and that of his family.

But the grenade did not go off and he took this opportunity to try to run away. But a police officer, who was sent to the cemetery allegedly to finish him off, caught him in the middle of the highway.

At that moment, he desperately begged the police officer to spare his life.

“Sabi ko hindi naman ako masamang tao, ministro nga ako hindi ako mamamatay tao. May anak akong 1 ½ na taong gulang, at asawa. Hindi ako masamang tao (I said I was not a bad person; that I was a minister, not a murderer. I had a one-and-a-half-yearold child and a wife. I was not a bad person),” he recalled pleading with the police officer.

In response, Menorca recalled the policemen telling him that the latter was willing to let him live because he cannot bear to kill an innocent man.

“Pero ang kapalit sabi niya ay kakasuhan ka na lang namin ng kahit ano basta um-oo ka na lang (In exchange, he said charges will be brought up against me and I was to admit to them),” the exINC minister recalled what the police officer had told him.

The same police officer, he said, brought him to the Dasmariñas City Police Station, where he was charged with illegal possession of explosives.

He said the policemen paid 200 each to the two construction workers who made false statements against him.

“Naalala ko sinabihan ako na kung sino man ang nagpapatay sa akin ay siya ring makakapagpalaya sa iyo dito (I remember him telling me that my freedom was in the hands of whoever wanted me killed),” Menorca said.