Ex-QCPD chief, 7 others linked to kidnapping of INC minister
A former Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief and seven other police officials have been implicated in the abduction of a former Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) minister and the alleged plot to kill him.
In a press conference last Sunday, ex-INC minister Lowell Menorca bared that he was abducted by the police officers after officiating the church's Sunday worship on July 26, 2015 in Sorsogon.
He claimed that three Quezon City police officers, who were carrying long rifles, handcuffed him and dragged him into a waiting ambulance and then transferred to a high-end coaster, where the former QCPD chief and alleged members of the INC “Sanggunian” were waiting. He declined to identify the former QCPD chief.
“Minutes before my abduction, I noticed that after the Sunday service, there were no brethren
inside the church. Usually they would hang around. When I went outside, I saw three uniformed police officers wearing a QCPD badge. They pointed at me with long rifles and told me ‘'Dapa! Dapa!’”
“They frisked me, put a jacket on my head, and dragged me outside to an ambulance. Then I was transferred to a high-end coaster. There was a high ranking officer in the coaster, a former QCPD chief, but I will name him in the proper forum,” the ex-minister said.
Menorca said that the former QCPD chief was giving orders to the police officers while he was abducted inside the INC Church in Bulan, Sorsogon.
“Siya ang tumayong commander nung mga pulis na dumukot kay Menorca. Talagang na-identify siya ni Menorca na nandun mismo sa loob ng sasakyan habang siya ay ini-interrogate ng mga matataas na opisyal ng INC,” a source told the Manila Bulletin.
Lawyer Trixie Cruz Angeles, Menorca’s lawyer, said her client was able to identify at least eight police officers, including the former QCPD chief, who abducted him inside the church.
“The public will know the name of the ex-QCPD chief once the case against these police officers has been filed in the right forum. In the right time, you will know,” Angeles said.
She welcomed the move of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to investigate the police officers involved in the Menorca abduction case.
PNP orders probe PNP chief Director General Ricardo Marquez has already ordered a thorough investigation into the allegations of Menorca.
Menorca later found himself detained in Dasmarñas, Cavite, on charges of illegal possession of explosives following his abduction.
“This is a serious allegation. I have already ordered our CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) to look into this,” Marquez said.
Part of the probe, according to Marquez, is the coordination with Menorca to help the CIDG identify all the policemen the former INC minister implicated in his abduction and his eventual detention in Cavite.
Menorca said he was kidnapped as part of the crackdown of the INC leadership on its ranks over the exposes made by a certain “Antonio Ebangelista” on the alleged corruption and wrongdoings in the religious group.
During his captivity, Menorca said a grenade was thrown at him while he was inside a car but it did not go off. The same grenade, he said, was used in making it appear that he threatened a group of construction workers based on the case filed against him.
Menorca was freed on bail and was later transferred to the INC custody. During that time he reiterated that he was not abducted.
But Supt. Joseph R. Arguelles, Dasmariñas police chief, said in an interview that Menorca was released on orders of Cavite Prosecutor Emmanuel Rivera after complainants Delfin Padua and Edwin Naling had withdrawn their complaint.
A new twist in the story appeared last week when the Supreme Court granted the petition for habeas corpus filed by Menorca's brother. The order, according to Menorca, forced the INC to free him and his family.
Marquez vowed that policemen found to have violated the law in the case of Menorca will be punished.
“But first, we have to ferret out the truth. This is the part where the investigation of the CIDG comes in,” said Marquez.
Sought for comment, CIDG director Chief Supt. Victor Deona said he will create a team of investigators to conduct the probe on the allegation of Menorca.
Deona echoed the statement of Marquez that Menorca will be given the opportunity to identify the policemen involved.
INC seeks fair shake
Meanwhile, the INC yesterday appealed for fairness in handling the complaint of Menorca as it expressed fear that politicians will exploit the fresh abduction allegations to win votes this coming 2016 election.
While INC legal counsel lawyer Patricia Ann Prodigalidad brushed aside the recent claim of Menorca that he was abducted and ordered killed in July by the members of the “Sanggunian” of the religious group, she stressed that church officials were more concerned with the possible “exploitation of the issue” and the timing of the allegations.
“With the elections just six months away, they cannot help but worry that there may be personalities that may politicize this issue given the media coverage it has attracted,” Prodigalidad said.
“All they ask for is a fair shake, that this case be treated just like any other case,” she stressed.
In the face of allegations that they held Menorca, Prodigalidad appealed to the public to extend to them “the same rights as those enjoyed by us all, especially the ‘presumption of innocence’.”
The lawyer assured everyone that the INC leadership would address the allegations in the proper venue and would cooperate with authorities as they are confident that they could prove their innocence if they are treated fairly.
‘Allegations are false’ She also stated that she and the INC trust that the “courts will act judiciously, decide consistent with jurisprudence, and obey the rule of law.”
“The allegations [of Menorca] are false, and we will prove them to be false,” she said, adding that these issues are now sub-judice.
Despite the allegations of Menorca, Prodigalidad said that the INC officials were praying for the “enlightenment” of their former colleague.
“The officials of the INC are servants of their Church, and their primary concern is the welfare of their members, and this extends even to those who were once part of their flock. That is why even in the face of these allegations, they continue to pray for Mr. Menorca and his family,” said Prodigalidad.
Facing the members of the media on Sunday, Menorca bared the alleged plans of the INC to have him killed, and as well as recounted the supposed physical and emotional torture he suffered inside the four walls of their church since his abduction in Sorsogon last July.
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.
Under duress
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.
Meanwhile, the petition for Writs of Habeas Corpus and Amparo filed by Menorca against the church’s leaders will be handled by the Seventh Division of the Court of Appeals (CA). (With reports from Francis T. Wakefield, Reynaldo G. Panaligan, and Anthony Giron)