Public urged to understand INC crisis

MANILA, Philippines - An Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) official yesterday appealed for understanding from the Filipino people amid the crisis rocking the sect.

Edwil Zabala, INC spokesman, said in a text message that they are asking for open-mindedness, objectivity and understanding as various accusations are filed against church officials and leaders.

“We likewise call for circumspection in the face of baseless speculation and reckless accusations that do not contribute to efforts to obtain justice for all those involved,” Zabala told The STAR.

Expelled INC ministers Lowell Menorca II and Isaias Samson Jr. have recently surfaced and accused church officers and members of illegal detention. Both earlier claimed harassment and corruption existed within the organization.

Menorca also alleged that the INC is preparing for another rally in EDSA after the Supreme Court (SC) issued the writs of habeas corpus and amparo last Friday, compelling INC leaders, including executive minister Eduardo Manalo, to appear before the Court of Appeals on Nov. 3.

Zabala, however, refused to comment when asked about the plan. The INC staged a rally in August to call for the separation of Church and State. The rally was only put to an end when the government and the INC allegedly arrived at an agreement, the terms of which remain undisclosed.

He also asked the INC faithful to remain calm and to continue praying for the church despite the rumors that might destroy the INC’s image.

“In this time of great tribulation, we ask our brethren to remain calm and continue praying for our church. Rest assured that the church leadership will face all the issues with dignity and full confidence in the fairness of our justice system,” Zabala said.

Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Harry Roque Jr. yesterday cast doubt on Menorca’s latest insinuation about the existence of an INC death squad.

Roque, a law professor at the University of the Philippines, said such allegation is so serious that it needs evidence before being made public.

“If the INC has death squads, who are their victims? Where are the bodies?” he told reporters. “If I were to publicly accuse someone of maintaining a stable of killers, the first thing I would do to support the allegation is rattle off a list of its purported victims. How can you investigate murder if there’s no clear victim?”

Roque advised Menorca’s lawyers, led by Trixie Cruz-Angeles, to advise their client to “exercise restraint with his public statements, given the gravity of his allegations.”

He stressed that the more damaging a public accusation, “the greater the burden of the accuser to prove this is true.”

“The reputations of a religious institution and its leaders are on the line. Menorca’s accusations sound like something out of a Dan Brown novel, and it would be horribly unjust if his allegations are based on nothing more than an urban myth,” Roque explained, pertaining to the author of best-selling novels “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons,” which both featured religious orders and groups involved in criminal activities like murder.

Roque added that Menorca’s legal counsel “should teach him the difference between first-hand knowledge and hearsay.”

“Did he hear about them or did he actually see them in action? That’s a big distinction. His lawyer is doing him a great disservice by letting him bring what could possibly be a very weak case to the public,” he lamented.

“Maybe on TV that accusation can fly; but in court in won’t,” he added.

A TV report last Wednesday quoted Menorca as saying the INC maintains a private army and death squad that kill and threaten some of its members who go against the church’s leadership. – With Edu Punay