The Court of Appeals has ordered to strike out several allegations made by expelled minister Lowell Menorca II against the leaders of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, in connection with the Writ of Amparo he filed against the INC leaders.
This came after the CA’s Seventh Division found those allegations made by Menorca in his testimony to be “speculative, conjectural, argumentative, non-assertive of truth, have no relevance to the issues to be resolved, and/or opinions inadmissible as evidence.”
In a 42-page resolution authored by Associate Justice Victoria Isabela Paredes, the CA granted the plea in the opposition filed by INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo and Sanggunian or Council members Radel Cortez, Bienvenido Santiago and Rolando Esguerra questioning entries in Menorca’s 53-page judicial affidavit.
The appellate court specifically deleted the statement of Menorca that some of the respondents were “threatening us that the Church Administration will not let us live once we get implicated with Antonio Ebanghelista,” referring to the fictitious blogger who
publicly hurl allegations of anomalies against the INC leadership.
It also dropped Menorca’s statement pertaining to Manalo: “Bro. Mabasa talked to us inside our house and told us that the decision given by Bro. Eduardo V. Manalo was to give us another chance.”
It also deleted Menorca’s account attributed to Ka Eduardo supposedly uttered by one “Ka TJ,” saying it was hearsay and irrelevant.
The appellate court also ruled as hearsay the statement of the petitioner stating that an INC official “told me not to worry because that people who had the power and influence to put to jail are the same people who has the power to make it disappear, too.”
Associate Justices Magdangal de Leon and Elihu Ybañez concurred in this ruling promulgated last Jan. 13 but released only yesterday.
Respondents INC leaders, through lawyer Patricia-Ann Prodigalidad, have sought the deletion of the entries in Menorca’s affidavit in earlier hearings.
The CA has already approved the deletion of some statements of petitioner, including his claim that he was “forcibly taken upon orders of the INC.” They said Menorca “has no authority and personal knowledge” over such claim.
Prodigalidad then sought the deletion of over a hundred more portions of Menorca’s affidavit, saying the statements submitted were hearsay, speculations and opinions. She also cited the court’s judicial affidavit rule that requires the affidavit to contain only facts and particulars in a question-and-answer format.
The appellate court agreed and held that such statements of Menorca were either precluded, irrelevant to issues in the proceedings, non-assertive of the truth and conclusion without basis.
The CA will continue its hearing on the Amparo case next Monday, Feb.15, where Menorca is expected to take the witness stand to detail his claims of abduction, harassment and illegal detention.
He was supposed to testify last Jan. 20, but was arrested on his way to the hearing over a libel case.