MANILA — Justice Secretary Leila de Lima on Monday said that the investigation on the cases of abduction of Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) ministers is not yet over.
De Lima said the National Bureau of Investigation is still looking into the matter.
“The investigation is still [going on]. The earlier reports, alluding to a purported statement from an NBI official that the case is closed, are wrong,” the justice secretary said.
The statement was made following earlier reports of an NBI official who reortedly claimed that the initial investigation showed no abduction.
De Lima said she was surprised with the statement adding that the official was not even involved in the on going probe on the case.
She was referring to the chief of the NBI’s Anti-Organized Transnational Crime Division, lawyer Manual Eduarte.
Eduarte made the announcement last Monday that there was no abduction in the case.
“First of all, that official is not involved in the investigation… I was surpirsed when he made that announcement and I asked NBI Director Virgilio Mendez to do something about it, to discipline him for making an unauthorized and untrue statement that the investigation is closed,” De Lima said.