“If the Igesia ni Cristo has death squads, who are their victims? Where are the bodies?”
These were the questions asked by lawyer Harry Roque, who on Thursday said that the claims of former INC minister Lowell Menorca II of the existence of INC “death squads” needed to be backed up by prima facie evidence if Menorca insisted on publicly accusing the INC of employing hitmen.
“Menorca’s legal counsel would do well to advise him to exercise restraint with his public statements, given the gravity of his allegations,” said Roque, who is known for handling high profile cases and whose clients include the family of Jennifer Laude and the relatives of victims of the Ampatuan Massacre.
Menorca’s lawyer is Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who is also legal counsel for the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
According to Roque, while Menorca gave details regarding the alleged “death squads,” he found it strange that “Menorca could not name a single victim.”
“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,” said the lawyer, who also taught at his alma mater, the University of the Philippines College of Law.
“Paano mo iimbestigahan ang murder kung wala namang namatay [how can you investigate a murder if no one has died]?”
Roque 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.”
Dan Brown is the writer of the best-selling novels “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons.” Both feature religious orders and groups involved in criminal activity like murder.
Roque added that Menorca’s legal counsel “should teach him the difference between firsthand knowledge and hearsay.”
“Did he hear about them or did he actually see them in action? Malaking distinction yan. [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,” lamented Roque.
“Baka sa TV uubra ang akusasyon na yan; pero sa korte, hindi.” [Maybe on TV that accusation can fly; but in court it won’t.]