(Eagle News) — The Iglesia Ni Cristo is asking the Quezon City court to ban the entry of unknown and unauthorized individuals from entering the INC premises at number 36 Tandang Sora, Avenue in Quezon City.
The petition for injunction was filed after several CCTV footages have shown unknown individuals wearing masks and bonnets freely entering the INC compound where Angel Manalo and Lottie Manalo-Hemedez –siblings of the INC Executive Minister Eduardo Manalo — are staying. The two have been expelled from the INC because of their previous moves that tended to sow disunity in the Church.
The CCTV videos that showed the masked and hooded individuals entering the INC compound were submitted as part of the evidence and basis of the INC for seeking an injunction from the Quezon City court on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
A lawyer for the Iglesia Ni Cristo, Atty. Serafin Cuevas Jr., explained that the goal of the injunction is to prevent the unauthorized entry of these unknown individuals, especially since the compound is still church property. The central offices of the Iglesia Ni Cristo are also near the place.
“They’re coming in and out with impunity so the Church Administration is worried about the security, about the peace and tranquility of the neighborhood, considering that they are not authorized to stay there, ” he said.
It was also learned that expelled INC minister Eliodoro “Joy” Yuson and Roel Rosal, including their families, were illegally staying in the INC compound.
Atty Cuevas clarified that the petition for injunction is not evicting Angel Manalo and Lottie Hemedez, and their families from the area, but only seeks to prevent the entry of unknown and unauthorized individuals to the INC property.
“The injunction is to prohibit occupants other than the family or members of the household of Angel Manalo, Lottie Manalo Hemedez, from staying there, more particularly against Rosal, his wife and several other persons who we cannot identify,” Cuevas said.
He said that the injunction also aims to ensure the security of those living in the compound.
After the filing of the INC’s petition for injunction on Wednesday, Atty. Trixie Angeles immediately came out with a media release claiming that the hooded individuals were only carrying food and other items inside the compound.
Angeles serves as a lawyer for expelled INC ministers Isaias Samson Jr., and Yuson.
The case was initially raffled to Judge Madonna Echeverri of Quezon City regional trial court branch 81. But because she was a faculty member of the New Era University College of Law, she decided to inhibit herself from the case.
According to the registry of deeds, the property at no. 36 Tandang Sora Avenue is owned by the INC.
