Witnesses in the alleged abduction and detention of expelled minister Lowell Menorca II on Wednesday took the stand before the Court of Appeals, but cross examination made by lawyers of Iglesia Ni Cristo elicited inconsistencies in their testimonies.
During the cross examination by lawyers of INC leaders named respondents in the habeas corpus and amparo cases, inconsistencies in the testimonies of Menorca’s wife Jinky, brother Anthony and nanny Abegail Yanson were produced.
Jinky even admitted that she did not witness her husband being taken by armed men last July in Bulan, Sorsogon, contrary to the claim of her twin sister Jungko Otsuka in the petition.
Menorca’s wife said it was Yanson who just told her about the incident.
“So, you did not see how Ka Lowell was picked up?” INC lawyer Salvador Peña asked, to which Jinky answered, “I did not see it with my eyes.”
Jinky also admitted that her sister did not visit her, while they were held inside the INC compound in Quezon City, but Jungko denied this in her affidavit and admitted she visited the former several times.
The INC lawyer also compelled Jinky to admit that she and the rest of her family were able to leave their apartment/quarters for church, the gym, badminton court, the canteen and the other facilities inside the INC Central compound in Quezon City, go to the hospital, and even bring their balikbayan visitors to the Philippine Arena in Bulacan during the duration of their alleged detention.
The petition earlier alleged that the family was harassed and made to live deplorable conditions while under INC custody, but Yanson revealed upon cross examination that the family “was treated well.”
Anthony, for his part, testified that his knowledge of the alleged abduction of his brother only came from the Menorca couple, prompting the INC lawyer to call it “hearsay.”
Another INC lawyer, Patricia Ann Prodigalidad, asked the CA’s Seventh Division to impose sanctions on the Menorca camp for failure to furnish respondents with copies of the judicial affidavits of their witnesses on the deadline set by the court last Nov. 5 as agreed upon during the first hearing last Nov. 3.
Prodigalidad also called out Menorca counsels Trixie Cruz- Angeles and Ahmed Paglinawan for manifesting intent to furnish respondents with copies of the affidavits of Lowell and his brother, Anthony, only today, calling this an act to “clearly ambush respondents” and “surprise respondents” with affidavits not previously provided them.
“We are baffled how come they could have themselves interviewed and not do their duty as lawyers… We call on this court to give them sanctions under the Judicial Affidavit Rule. This court has been lenient with them already in the past hearing when they asked for time to print their affidavits; how many times will this court be lenient to them?” she said.
Angeles and Paglinawan apologized to the court, but stressed that they got sick, including their lone assistant, and the reason why the copies e-mailed to respondents were unnotarized was because there was difficulty in scanning the notarized pages.
“All our scanners decided to conk out at the same time, your honors. This is a simple technical difficulty,” Angeles told the Court.
Prodigalidad attempted to have the Menorcas’ affidavits stricken off since they were submitted beyond the agreed deadline, but the court decided to accept them “in the interest of justice” with a corresponding fine of P2,000 consistent with the Judicial Affidavit Rule.