Former Iglesia ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca is under police custody at the Police Station 5 in Quirino Grandstand. (INQUIRER PHOTO)
The arrest of Lowell Menorca II in Manila yesterday was “proof” that he needed a “lifetime protection” from Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), whose leaders he accused of abduction last year.
This was how Menorcca described the serving of warrant against him by members Manila Police District (MPD) Pandacan station under Supt. Edilberto Leonardo.
Menorca questioned the timing of arrest and Leonardo’s motive since the police colonel is “also a member of INC.”
“This is proof that I need a lifetime protection against them,” he said while on board a police car that would take him to Ospital ng Maynila. “This will never stop,” he added.
Menorca said he was arrested by Leonardo’s men using a “frivolous” warrant that was “not under his name.”
“I am Lowell Menorca II not Menorca III, yet they still arrested me,” he said at Ospital ng Maynila.
He also questioned the libel case filed by an unknown complainant, and the location of the issuing court, Lanao del Norte Regional Trial Court Branch 21. The warrant also specifically noted that it is to be executed by the Quezon City Police.
“This is really a delaying tactic,” he said during his medical exam.
At the hospital, his mother called from Canada. In their brief conversation, Menorca broke down. While wiping his tears with a white handkerchief, all Menorca could repeatedly say was: “I’m okay, ma. I’m okay.”
After their conversation, Menorca said his mother saw the footage of his arrest and panicked.
Menorca, his wife Seiko, and their two-year-old daughter were headed to Court of Appeals about 9 a.m. yesterday when the arrest took place on Nakpil corner
Hidalgo street. He was supposed to attend a scheduled cross-examination regarding his request for a lifetime protection against INC.
He and his wife resisted the cops, who were allegedly not in uniform. The cops, Menorca added, refused to show their badges and give their names. They also declined to show him a copy of the warrant.
The policemen were later identified as Police Officer 3 Arnel Santos, and PO2 Samson Sison and Dennis Ramos a tracker team of Pandacan.
Menorca’s friend, Michael Villafuerte, who was driving the couple’s silver Toyota Innova at that time, said everything “happened so fast.”
“They were supposed to transfer to another vehicle that would take them to the Court of Appeals when the cops arrived,” Villafuerte said in a separate interview.
According to Santos, he and Sison would file physical injuries against Seiko and obstruction of justice against the friends of Menorcas who helped them escape.
Menorca would stay the night in Ermita after failing to post the P10,000 bail. He accused the cops of delaying the procedure.
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