On Wed morning, Jan 20, the police officers — who arrested former Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) minister Lowell Menorca that same day — said they will file charges of physical injury against Menorca’s wife, Jinky Otsuka.
“One of the arresting officers, PO3 Arnel Santos, claimed that Menorca’s wife, Jinky Otsuka, assaulted them as they were arresting the former INC member,” reports ABS-CBN News.
The report noted: “Santos denied that they did not have police badges and a warrant of arrest when they apprehended Menorca, who was then on his way to the Court of Appeals (CA). Santos said they will also file charges of obstruction of justice against the companions of the Menorca couple.”
Santos denied any involvement of the INC in the arrest, saying, “Wala naman po kaming pakialam kung ano pong relihiyon niyo, kasi po kami nagtatrabaho lang (We don’t have anything to say about what your religion is because we’re just doing our jobs).”
For her part, Menorca’s wife “denied slapping one of the officers, saying she was only trying to fight off them off because they did not show any badges or any form of identification to prove they are police officers.”
“Hindi po ako nanampal. Pinalo ko po ang kanyang braso. Hinatak niya po ang asawa ko (I didn’t slap anyone. I hit him on the upper arm because he was dragging my husband),” Jinky explained.
It may be recalled that Menorca “accused the INC of being behind his arrest, which stems from a libel case filed against him in Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte, supposedly to stop him from taking the witness stand at the CA for his petition for writs of amparo and habeas corpus.”
Menorca had also “accused the INC leadership of ordering police to abduct him for being supposedly involved in the controversial anti-INC blog of a certain Antonio Ebangelista.”
