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PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY January 16 - 31, 2017
Iglesia Ni Cristo rebel granted refugee status by Canada
Lowell Menorca, who fled the
Philippines and came to Canada
fearing for his life and that of his
family after a falling-out with the
powerful Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC), has
been granted refugee status.
The Immigration and Refugee
Board accepted Menorca’s claim for
refugee status, according to a CBC
report.
“I cried and I cried, and thanked
God that finally this was the vindication
I was praying for,” Menorca said in the
CBC report.
Menorca arrived in Vancouver on
April 1, 2016, and on April 26, spoke
with the ReyFort Media Group in a
global exclusive interview.
In that 2016 interview, Menorca,
who was suspected by the INC
hierarchy of being part of a campaign
to discredit the leadership with issues
of corruption and other irregularities,
denied participation in the said
campaign.
However, Menorca also said that
there are many INC members who are
now calling themselves Defenders.
“These are people like me who
are standing for the truth, who want
transparency,” he said in that 2016
interview.
“My personal advocacy, which is
being embraced by a lot of Defenders
all over the world, is transparency,”
Menorca said. “This is what we and
other Defenders pray for for the
church we have known as children,
the church we know that teaches love,
compassion, truth and fairness.”
Menorca has been expelled
by the church. The INC rebel has a
mother and sister in Vancouver.
Menorca was not able to bring
along his two-year-old daughter, and
his wife who was pregnant at the tie.
His wife, who has since given
birth to a baby boy, and his daughter
are in an Asian country.
“I am just one man standing
for the truth and what is right against
a very, very powerful institution,”
Menorca also said in the 2017
interview. “I am no match for them.
This is why we are begging your good
government to grant us refuge. We
are in dire need of protection from
a government such as yours, whose
law enforcement is faithful to its duty
to protect and serve its citizens.”
According to the CBC report, the
Immigration and Refugee Board has
found that the INC “is motivated by a
vendetta”, and has “both the means Rosette Correa, Senior Editor of PNT and Lowell Menorca during the 2016 interview.
and the motivation to seriously harm
or kill” Menorca if returns to the from the risks that he fears in that family to Canada.
country,” the CBC quoted from the
“I still haven’t held him in my
Philippines.
board’s
ruling.
hands,
in my arms,” Menorca said in
The board ruled that Menorca is
The
CBC
also
noted
from
the
CBC
report, referring to his son
“a person in need of protection from
a risk of cruel and unusual treatment the board decision that Menorca’s who was born in Asia after the family
or punishment and a risk to his life.” troubles with the INC began “due to fled the Philippines.
“I hope there is a way that I can
“I was ecstatic. I was overcome an internal division within the church’s
leadership”.
get
them
here as soon as possible,
with joy,” Menorca said in the CBC
The CBC reported that a now that I have been granted
report.
The CBC related that Menorca spokesperson for the INC did not protected-person status here in
had claimed that members of the INC respond to its request for comment Canada,” Menorca said in the CBC
abducted him, attempted to kill him, following the successful refugee report. “And I will still continue to find
application of Menorca.
ways so I can get them here as soon
and threatened his young daughter.
Menorca
hopes to bring 1 his
as possible.”
Joel_AsianNewsToday_print.pdf
2017-10-05
3:46 PM
“When the panel considers
the links between the INC and the
law enforcement authorities in the
Philippines, the general climate of
impunity that pervades Philippines law
enforcement particularly with respect
to the issue of extrajudicial killing, and
the level of corruption that exists in
the Philippines government and law
enforcement apparatus, the panel is
satisfied [Menorca] would be unable
to avail himself of state protection,
Trudeau Government ...
that are non-political, or
unrelated to reproductive
rights.
last
week,
“Just
I spoke with one of the
churches about housing,
affordable housing. The
Salvation Army is constantly
doing things for anti-poverty.
So I have a close connection
with these groups, and I
represent them, even if we
have a difference in belief,”
Simms shares.
“We couldn’t hold our
integrity and check off the
box about the reproductive
rights,” said Jeff Hillier,
lead pastor at Community
Pentecostal
Church
in
Orléans. Hillier said he
was “very shocked” by the
new program rules, which
reminded him of Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau’s requirement for
Liberal MPs to vote pro-choice during
the last elections.
The Canadian Council of Christian
Charities has outlined a three-part
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
strategy for churches to “pray,
express concern, contact MPs.” It is
also advising churches to continue
to apply for the program, but to do
so using a paper form, where they
can express their concerns with the
policy.
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