Ex-INC minister charged with illegal detention

MANILA, Philippines - Expelled Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) minister Lowell Menorca II was charged yesterday before the Department of Justice (DOJ) with the serious illegal detention of his daughter’s nanny.

Candido and Rosalie Yanson accused Menorca of keeping their daughter, Abegail Yanson, against her will.

Assisting them was lawyer Alex Avisado.

Last July, Menorca and his wife Jinky brought Abegail to Manila from Bulan, Sorsogon and have not allowed her since then to see her family, the Yansons said in their complaint.

They belied the claim of Menorca’s lawyer Trixie Cruz-Angeles that an agent of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group tried to get Abegail during the hearing on the habeas corpus and amparo petitions of Menorca at the Court of Appeals last Tuesday.

“I was the one who hugged my daughter,” a teary-eyed Rosalie told reporters. “I’ve been wanting to do that because I missed her.”

Roselle, Abegail’s sister, called Angeles a liar.

It was she who grabbed her sister, not a CIDG agent as Angeles had claimed, Roselle said.

Avisado said the INC had tapped him to provide legal representation to the Yanson family.

Earlier, Menorca accused the INC of using Abegail’s family to further harass him and his family.

Angeles said the CA must grant their petition for a protection order as the pattern of harassment and threats against her client is continuing.