(Eagle News) — The Court of Appeals has wrapped up hearings on the petition for writ of amparo filed by expelled Iglesia Ni Cristo member Lowell “Boyet” Menorca II, after his repeated failure to attend hearings where he is set for cross examination.
According to Presiding Judge Magdangal de Leon of the CA’s 7th division, they will soon issue a decision on the matter as soon as possible. This was after the INC had asked the court to dismiss the petition for being moot and academic, as Menorca was already out of the country and therefore out of the court’s jurisdiction.
Menorca, along with his wife Jinky Seiko Otsuka and his daughter, had been seen in Vietnam on March 7, the day where he is set to appear before the CA for a hearing.
His lawyers claim they do not know his whereabouts, while insisting that he had to leave because of alleged threats to his family.
But INC lawyers insist these alleged threats trumpeted by Menorca’s camp could have just been all imagined, and worse even made up, just so he could escape being cross examined in court.
“What is clear is the petitioners had not finished presenting their evidence therefore nothing can be used by the court as a basis for making a definitive ruling whether to grant the writ of amparo,” said Atty. Moises Tolentino Jr., lawyer for the INC.
But Atty. Trixie Cruz-Angeles, Menorca’s lawyer, asked the CA’s 7th division to archive the petition for the writ of amparo against the INC, in the meantime that Menorca was out of the country.
If archived, the petition can still be heard within a period of two years. If within two years, the Menorcas would fail to pursue the case in court, then the petition could then be dismissed.
“Our argument is that the rules provide for an archiving of the case for two years, and a final dismissal at the end of that. Taking into consideration that an amparo is filed out of the fear for the security and life of a beneficiary,” Angeles said.
Menorca’s counsel reiterated their claim that there was a threat to Menorca and his family, and that Menorca continues to be entitled to a writ of amparo.
“Therefore archiving is the more appropriate course of action,” she said.
Angeles said a picture of Menorca’s family where the image of his daughter had been crossed out was considered a serious threat.
INC lawyer Tolentino countered that the threat was all in Menorca’s mind, and that such a picture could have been easily made up, as Menorca’s failure to appear in court for cross examination was not to the advantage of the petitioners.
He told reporters that this alleged threat could easily be part of a “grand plan” of Menorca and his lawyers.
“We saw here a grand strategy on the part of Menorca and his lawyers. That picture is said to have been found in the windshield of his car in the compound where their safe house is situated. You must remember that the safe house was some place that only Menorca knew otherwise it would not be a safe house,” Tolentino told reporters.
“What we are saying is that this is apparently a grand plan in order to have something to use to ask the court for the archival of the petition… This is not supposed to be a credible legal ground,” he added.
Menorca, in a hearing at the CA before he decided to leave, had admitted in open court that he and his family had not received any actual threat from the INC.
Tolentino said that jurisprudence requires that the alleged threat should have substantial evidence that must be proven in court.
He said Menorca’s action of fleeing to escape being cross-examined by INC lawyers and from facing his numerous other charges in court, including libel and an adultery complaint, was a “cowardly option.”
Tolentino earlier explained that by choosing not to appear in court for cross-examination, Menorca robbed the INC lawyers of the opportunity to expose his lies.
The INC lawyers had moved to strike off the records Menorca’s Menorca’s judicial affidavit that made up his direct testimony with the Court of Appeals.
“He (Menorca) had hoped he could rely upon his false and fantastic allegations contained in his affidavit to support his accusations of abduction and illegal detention against top officials of the Iglesia Ni Cristo. He saw his case crumbling and destined to go the same way (as the) two other similar complaints earlier filed by expelled members of the Church, hence, his decision to leave the country,” Tolentino said in a previous press conference.
The last hearing set by the CA was last March 28, but Menorca again failed to show up in court.