LAWYERS of the Iglesia Ni Cristo have sought the dismissal of an amparo suit filed by expelled member Lowell Menorca II, who left for Vietnam on March 6.
Justices of the Court of Appeals Seventh Division had ordered the INC legal panel led by lawyer Patricia Ann Prodigalidad and Menorca’s counsels Beatrix Rose Angeles and Ahmedy Paglinawan to file their position papers on the matter within two days.
Angeles said she did not know if or when Menorca would return to the country. He had said he fled because of death threats to his family.
The INC’s lawyers moved that the case be rendered moot and academic considering Menorca’s continued nonappearance and “apparent lack of interest.” Prodigalidad also asked the court to strike out Menorca’s testimony from the records.
“It’s becoming clear that Mr. Menorca is hiding from the court and is running out of excuses for doing so. How else can you explain his successive nonappearance?” she told reporters.
The case stemmed from Menorca’s claim that he had been abducted and tortured on orders of top INC leaders. He said he and his family were detained for three months in the INC central temple complex in Quezon City before being rescued by National Bureau of Investigation agents.
He said INC leaders wanted to eliminate him because he was suspected of being the mysterious blogger who had been exposing alleged corruption and other anomalies in the church.
It was Menorca’s brother and sister-in-law who filed a petition for the issuance of writs of habeas corpus and amparo in the Supreme Court. Jerome Aning