Public urged to understand INC crisis

Manila, Philippines
"For every minute you are angry, you lose 60 seconds of happiness"...

October 30, 2015

"An Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) official yesterday appealed for understanding from the Filipino people amid the crisis rocking the sect.

Edwil Zabala, INC spokesman, said in a text message that they are asking for open-mindedness, objectivity and understanding as various accusations are filed against church officials and leaders..."

"... Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Harry Roque Jr. yesterday cast doubt on Menorca’s latest insinuation about the existence of an INC death squad.

Roque, a law professor at the University of the Philippines, said such allegation is so serious that it needs evidence before being made public.

“If the INC has death squads, who are their victims? Where are the bodies?” he told reporters. “If I were to publicly accuse someone of maintaining a stable of killers, the first thing I would do to support the allegation is rattle off a list of its purported victims. How can you investigate murder if there’s no clear victim?”

"Roque advised Menorca’s lawyers, led by Trixie Cruz-Angeles, to advise their client to “exercise restraint with his public statements, given the gravity of his allegations.”

He stressed that the more damaging a public accusation, “the greater the burden of the accuser to prove this is true.”

“The reputations of a religious institution and its leaders are on the line. Menorca’s accusations sound like something out of a Dan Brown novel, and it would be horribly unjust if his allegations are based on nothing more than an urban myth,” Roque explained, pertaining to the author of best-selling novels “Da Vinci Code” and “Angels and Demons,” which both featured religious orders and groups involved in criminal activities like murder.

Roque added that Menorca’s legal counsel “should teach him the difference between first-hand knowledge and hearsay.”

“Did he hear about them or did he actually see them in action? That’s a big distinction. His lawyer is doing him a great disservice by letting him bring what could possibly be a very weak case to the public,” he lamented.

“Maybe on TV that accusation can fly; but in court in won’t,” he added.

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http://www.msn.com/en-ph/news/national/public-urged-to-understand-inc-crisis/ar-BBmAfPv?li=AAb280R&ocid=wispr