WHO IS LOWELL MENORCA II?
He appears to be the victim of the week, allegedly the target of the powerful Iglesia ni Cristo
Lowell Menorca II, expelled minister of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), has had a series of misfortunes starting last year.
On July 17, he was arrested and released only eight days later. On Oct. 25, he was kidnapped and, with his wife Jinky and child, detained, they alleged, at the INC compound in Central Ave., Quezon City.
All that, he said at a presscon last Oct. 30, because of his accusations that some INC members were involved in “illegal activities.”
He’s now facing three complaints for libel: one, in Kidapawan, Lanao; the second in Marawi City; and a probable third case in Cavite City, all filed in places far away from Manila, where he resides and the seat of the INC church is located.
It was a warrant from Mindanao for which he was arrested in Roxas Blvd., Manila Wednesday on his way to a Court of Appeals hearing also in connection with his feud with INC. Police “trackers” in plainclothes and using “excessive” force prompted former justice chief Leila de Lima to call it “really highly irregular and probably illegal too.”
What Menorca has been subjected to could indicate persecution and harassment. And the suspect, not just a person in interest, couldn’t be other than “people from INC” and their powerful friends in high places. INC has repeatedly denied any part in it but it has had a tough time making the public accept that line.
Accusations against some members of INC’s Sanggunian, the highest administrative body of the religious group, have remained unresolved. Eduardo Manalo, INC supreme leader, has been dragged to the fray because of differences with his estranged siblings, Angel and Lottie.
INC officials have not appeared in court except through their lawyers. That and their street protests last year aren’t helping INC in mending its image of a troublewracked religious group.