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MANILA, Philippines – A court in Canada dismissed a defamation case filed by the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) against the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) over a 2018 series about alleged corruption within this politically influential Filipino church
One of the defendants, former INC minister Lowell Menorca II, received a copy of this February 7 ruling on Friday, March 28. He then provided Rappler with a copy on Monday evening, March 31.
INC spokesperson Edwil Zabala, when sought for reaction by Rappler, said he only learned of the matter on Monday and could not make any further comment.
The INC, or Church of Christ, is a 2.8-million-strong Christian group courted by Filipino politicians due to its bloc voting practice. Founded in 1914, it is the biggest Christian denomination in the Philippines, next to the 86-million-strong Roman Catholic Church.
In junking the INC’s defamation case, Justice Kenneth Champagne of The King’s Bench, Winnipeg Centre, cited “the plaintiffs’ persistent non-compliance with the court rules,” which he described as “an abuse of the process of the court.”
The root of the defamation case was the CBC series of programs and articles, titled “Church of Secrets,” which, according to the court decision, “disclosed allegations of financial corruption, kidnapping, and murder” within the INC. Menorca, who was expelled from the church in 2015, was one of those who gave information and appeared in the CBC series.
On February 11, 2019, the INC filed a defamation case “to prevent CBC from continuing to publish the defamatory statements.” The defendants, on the other hand, asserted that “the publications are true” and involve “fair commentary on matters of public interest.”
The judge, however, cited problems with the evidence presented by the INC, as well as the church’s compliance with court processes.
Champagne, in particular, found deficiencies in the testimony of Rvy Medicielo, also known as “Brother Rvy,” whom the plaintiffs “proposed to produce for examination for discovery.” He was introduced as a person who “occupies a senior position for INC in Alberta” and is, therefore, “a knowledgeable person for discovery.”
An “examination for discovery,” according to an online guide by the Supreme Court of British Columbia, “involves a meeting where one party asks an opposing party questions about the issues in the dispute.”
“Brother Rvy was examined on September 20 and 21, 2023. I read the transcript and concluded Brother Rvy was nothing more than a sacrificial lamb. He knew little, if anything, about matters in this litigation. His knowledge was based on what had been publicly reported. He had no knowledge about the six corporate plaintiffs, was unable to identify individuals who held leadership roles within INC, and had no knowledge of the individuals identified in the CBC publications,” Champagne wrote.
Brother Rvy also “could not explain the financial structure of financial policies of INC.”
The judge also pointed out that the defendants “have been requesting the production of all relevant documents from the plaintiffs since June 2021,” but these requests “have been ignored.” The judge also “directed the plaintiffs to produce all relevant documents,” yet his directions “have been ignored.”
A strategy ‘designed to waste resources’
“I do not hesitate in concluding the plaintiffs have undertaken a deliberate course of conduct designed to thwart the rules of documentary disclosure,” said Champagne.
The judge noted that the church “has deliberately employed a litigation strategy designed to waste resources.”
“Whoever is calling the shots for INC has previously made a determined effort to use the court process to silence their critics,” said Champagne. “This conduct is unacceptable and reprehensible as it diminishes the court’s integrity and undermines confidence in the administration of justice.”
Menorca, in a phone interview with Rappler on Monday, said the Canadian court ruling “means that there is still justice that prevails, especially in countries where truth is upheld and where there is integrity in the courts.”
“I am just one of the defendants, but there are still a lot of people, especially there in the Philippines and other countries, who are still being persecuted and oppressed. For them to know that justice prevailed today means that there is hope, that the truth will eventually come out, and it will vindicate a lot of people who are still suffering up to this day,” Menorca said.
The former INC minister hopes that the Canadian court ruling “can serve as a landmark case that will be the precedent for all upcoming cases that the INC may plan to use against its critics or anybody that they deem to be church enemies.”
This case, in particular, can be a basis for any court to realize “that this is a systemic and chronic strategy of the church that they implement: to use the legal system to prosecute and silence people who criticize or question them.”
“I am hopeful that the Philippine courts — its judges, especially justices in the Supreme Court — will see this and reevaluate especially cases involving the Church of Christ or Iglesia ni Cristo,” Menorca said.
A review of these cases, he said, will show “that there is coercion, there is use of clout and influence by the church, in order to influence the decision or even the delay in the due process of these cases.”
“This, in our hope, will serve as a catalyst so that there will be an internal cleaning of house within the justice system,” Menorca said. – Rappler.com
