Rappler: Expelled INC member gets refugee status in Canada

Imagine if an ex-Catholic member would seek refuge in other countries because his life is in danger. And those who wants his life are the very same persons who call themselves "followers of the real church"? What a hypocrite. This is why Menorca's case is UNIQUE to the Iglesia Ni Cristo® - 1914. It no longer embodies the Christian moral precepts that is a prescription for being a follower of Christ! That's why the INC™ can't blame non-INC™ for calling them "cult"!  -CD2000 [Source: Rappler / A separate article is also published in ABS-CBN]

Canadian authorities say Lowell Menorca II 'is a person in need of protection from a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment and a risk to his life' 

ARRESTED. Ex-Iglesia ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca is secured by police officers after he was presented a warrant of arrest for libel on January 20, 2016. File photo by Lito Boras/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Citing threats to his life, Canada's Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) has granted refugee status to expelled Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) member Lowell Menorca II. 

Rappler on Friday, January 26, obtained a redacted copy of the Canadian authorities' decision on Menorca's case. Canada's CBC News reported on the same decision on Thursday, January 25. 

"The Refugee Protection Division determines that the claimant is a person in need of protection. Therefore, the Refugee Protection Division accepts the claim," said the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada in a notice of decision dated November 6, 2017. 

"The panel finds the claimant is a person in need of protection from a risk of cruel and unusual treatment or punishment and a risk to his life," the panel said. 

Menorca, 40, had arrived in Canada on April 1, 2016, and soon after applied for refugee protection. 

The hearings on his refugee claim took place on October 31, November 1, and November 10, 2016. 

"When the panel considers the links between the INC and the law enforcement authorities in the Philippines, the general climate of impunity that pervades Philippines law enforcement particularly with respect to the issue of extrajudicial killing, and the level of corruption that exists in the Philippines government and law enforcement apparatus, the panel is satisfied [Menorca] would be unable to avail himself of state protection, from the risks that he fears in that country," the IRB also said, as quoted by CBC News. 

CBC News said that INC's lawyer, Roger McConchie, said the INC will not comment in the meantime. 

Rappler is also trying to reach INC for comment as of posting time. 

Menorca, a former INC evangelical worker, claimed he had been abducted and charged with illegal possession of firearms supposedly to force him to expose members critical of INC. 

The INC calls him a fugitive. – Rappler.com

Rappler: Ex-INC members alarmed over 'disappearances'

MANILA, Philippines – At least two former members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) have gone missing, in two separate incidents that occurred within days of each other.

Danilo Patungan, a security guard for a condominium in Bonifacio Global City, has been out of touch since leaving for work the afternoon of April 11, according to his wife Delia.

Days later, another expelled INC member, Felix Villocino, also went missing and has not returned to his Quezon City residence for days.

Several excommunicated INC members told Rappler they fear this is a repeat of the reported abductions of expelled church ministers back in 2015, when the family feud between INC executive minister Eduardo Manalo and his estranged siblings, Angel Manalo and Lottie Manalo-Hemedez, came to light. (READ: Revolt in the Iglesia ni Cristo)

Both Patungan and Villocino have links to the INC leader's estranged brother, Felix Nathaniel "Angel" Manalo.

Patungan had been a security guard for Angel for 16 years, before moving to his current job at the Taguig City condominium 3 years ago. Villocino, meanwhile, has long been delivering food and other supplies to the Manalos' residence in Tandang Sora, Quezon City.

Missing since April 11

In a phone interview with Rappler on Tuesday, April 25, Delia Patungan said her husband left for work on April 11 for his night shift duties. She said Danilo had a habit of sending her a text message to inform her that he had safely arrived at work.

But the text message never came. Delia tried calling his phone, but could not reach her husband. She called up Danilo's workplace, but was told that he had not appeared for work that day.

"Kinabahan ako noong sinabi ng OIC na hindi siya nakarating," she said. (I got nervous when the officer-in-charge from his workplace told me that he didn't arrive at work.)

Delia said she could not think of any reason for her husband to go missing. He had no quarrel with anyone, she said, and he was not involved in drugs or any illegal activities. While he is a former INC member, she said Danilo no longer has any connection or communication with the church or with the Manalos.

"Biglaang nangyari...Wala akong makapa, kahit 'yung motor niya di namin makita," she said. (It happened so suddenly. There's nothing for me to hold on to, even his motorcycle can't be found.)

Danilo's family has filed reports with the police, scoured hospitals around the route he takes to work, and asked highway police if they had seen anything unusual on the night he went missing. They also got CCTV footage around the Tandang Sora area where he usually passes by, but Delia said they've had no luck finding him. [Read more...]