Ex-INC minister: They can kill us all, but…

Former Iglesia ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca answers questions from the media minutes after he was released from detention. AIE BALAGTAS SEE/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER

It could cost him his life, but former Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC) member Lowell Menorca II has vowed to make public all the “dirt and corruption” within the influential church’s powerful Sanggunian (governing council).

Breaking his silence since fleeing to Vietnam with his family to escape alleged death threats, Menorca said he would never stop baring the truth about his former church in the hope of restoring its “purity and cleanliness.”

“I am sure of one thing: We will never turn our backs on the truth we are fighting for. I will just ensure the safety of my family and then continue baring the truth and to tell everyone about the dirt and corruption in the INC in order to bring back its former purity and cleanliness,” said Menorca in a press statement.

“They could kill us all, but I will make sure I will come out with all evidence against the Sanggunian that they can’t ever deny,” he said in a statement written in Filipino.

Menorca, with wife Jinky and 2-year-old daughter Yuri Keiko, fled Manila Sunday night, boarding a Cebu Pacific flight to Vietnam on the eve of his expected appearance at the Court of Appeals.

Menorca and his family have a pending plea for court protection from members of the INC who allegedly continue to threaten them over what he knows about the Sanggunian.

His ordeal began in July as among INC workers and ministers who were allegedly abducted at the height of a turmoil that gripped the church known for keeping its ranks close. Menorca and his family were then allegedly detained for three months at the INC Central Office in Quezon City.

The incident prompted the family to seek court protection, a matter still unresolved to this day. On Jan. 20, Menorca was arrested on his way to court on libel charges—another incident he decried as a harassment from his former church.

In his statement, Menorca said he was prompted to leave after finding a piece of paper on the windshield of the family car that had their family picture and the message, “March 7, 2016 say goodbye!!! Mandirigma.” A cross in red ink was written over his daughter’s face in the photo.

“My world crumbled,” said Menorca of the incident Saturday night.

“That was when I lost all hope of getting justice in a Philippine court. I recalled the violence we experienced and the fact that there is nothing they can’t do,” he said.

He said the threat on his daughter was the last straw that prompted him to move his family to safer ground.

“Because we fear the influence of the INC, we gambled to save our child,” he said.