POLICE arrested expelled Iglesia ni Cristo member Felix Nathaniel Manalo inside a church compound in Quezon City for illegal possession of firearms on Thursday noon, an official said.
Quezon City Police Chief Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said a judge on Thursday issued a search warrant to authorize policemen to enter Manalo’s house on Tandang Sora Avenue around 8 a.m. but Felix, a brother of INC Executive Minister Eduard Manalo, refused the policemen entry.
Eleazar said Felix’s men fired shots at the police officers, injuring two members of the Special Weapons and Tactics team who forced their way in.
The policemen rounded up at least 32 other occupants of the house and took them to the QCPD headquarters in Camp Karingal for questioning.
On Feb. 27, an incident of indiscriminate firing was reported to the QCPD-Station, which prompted the authorities to apply for a search warrant before the Quezon City court.
“Two compound security guards were then injured,” Eleazar said, adding the shots came from inside the Manalo residence.
Supporters of Felix brought food with them and proceeded to Camp Karingal and said Felix and the other people arrested had not eaten for several days, but the authorities did not allow them to see the Manalos.
Felix then went outside the headquarters’ District Public Safety Battalion facility and told his supporters that he was being framed up.
Earlier, Felix accused the INC leaders of corruption, prodding the advisory council to expel him and his sister Lottie Manalo-Hemedez and his mother Tenie.
The INC leadership filed eviction charges against the expelled Manalos, who refused to leave the place despite a court order.
Felix said the crisis in the INC could only be resolved once his brother Eduardo talked to their mother and siblings.
He said he wanted to discuss with his brother the corruption within the church.
He said one of the church’s projects was the construction of the $200-million, 55,000-seat Philippine Arena in Santa Maria, Bulacan.
