NBI official who cleared INC faces probe
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima: That official is not involved in the investigation INQUIRER PHOTO
The reported cases of abduction of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) ministers are not yet “closed” as the National Bureau of Investigation is still looking into the matter, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said on Monday.
De Lima chided an NBI official who said last week that initial investigation showed there were no abductions.
“The investigation is still [going on]. The earlier reports, alluding to a purported statement from an NBI official that the case is closed, are wrong,” the justice secretary said.
“First of all, that official is not involved in the investigation …. I was surprised when he made that announcement and I asked NBI Director Virgilio Mendez to do something about it, to discipline him for making an unauthorized and untrue statement that the investigation is closed,” De Lima said.
She was referring to lawyer Manuel Eduarte, chief of the NBI Anti-Organized Transnational Crime Division, who made the announcement on Monday last week.
Eduarte said his men had conducted inquiries with the INC national headquarters in Diliman, Quezon City, and the house of Cristina “Tenny” Manalo, widow of former INC executive minister Eraño Manalo, and her son Angel.
Also last week, four INC ministers, based in the INC headquarters, denied that three of them and a relative were kidnapped and tortured on orders of top leaders of the sect. They belied the claim of a former INC minister that four INC ministers had been abducted.
The crisis in the INC administration became public on July 22 after a video posted on YoutTube showed Cristina and Angel calling for help and claiming that their lives were in danger. They have since been expelled from the INC.
The following day, Isaias Samson Jr., former editor in chief of the INC’s official publication “Pasugo,” surfaced, saying he and his family had escaped after being placed under house arrest by the INC’s governing council.
Detained in Cavite
Samson said INC minister Lowell Menorca II was abducted in Sorsogon, taken and detained in Cavite for illegal possession of explosives.
Menorca was released by the police on July 26 and was interviewed over the INC-run Net 25 television denying that he was abducted. However, news reports quoted his brother Anthony as saying that Menorca spoke under duress.
De Lima said the Department of Justice was still investigating reports that at least 10 INC ministers were abducted in a crackdown against critics of the council.
The reports about the abductions came as the expulsion of the mother and siblings of INC head Eduardo Manalo, and allegations of massive corruption in the sect, abuse of power by some leaders and high living of some ministers came to light.
Under witness program
The brother of Menorca was placed under the government’s Witness Protection Program (WPP) because he shared something he knew about the latter’s alleged abduction, De Lima said.
“[H]e shared certain very sensitive information with respect to what happened to his brother. But as to exactly what information he shared with us, I can’t tell you that yet because the investigation is still [going on],” she told reporters in an interview.
The justice secretary confirmed on Saturday that Menorca’s younger brother Anthony had sought WPP coverage due to threats to himself and his family.
De Lima, however, also noted that Menorca had already come out in the open to deny that he was abducted.
“That’s possible investigation [angle to pursue], which version is true. The more we need to know what the truth is because they dispute each other, especially they are brothers,” she said.
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