Priests

PRESIDENT Duterte, in his latest attack on the Filipino clergy, recently said that almost 90 percent of Catholic priests are homosexuals, as if that is important. Of course, there is no survey whose results say that, so the President’s claim should not be given credence. What this latest statement only shows is that his obsession with Catholic priests has not lessened.

The statement was made days after the President’s “kill the bishops” joke during the Presidential Award for Child-friendly Municipalities and Cities held in Malacañang last Dec. 5. The joke: “Pero itong mga obispo ninyo, patayin ninyo, walang silbi ‘yang mga gagong ‘yan. All they do is criticize.” I could just imagine how much his audience lapped this up.

But as we Cebuanos would say, “iya sad na.” I would not dwell on how deep-rooted his anger is with the Filipino clergy. He must have been raised differently from us. As for me, I grew up respecting priests and even in awe of some of them, especially when they are wearing the priestly garb.

One scene that sticks in my mind as a child was when I was admitted at the old Chong Hua Hospital, the private medical facility closest to our place in Sitio Kawayan in Barangay Sambag 2. I was usually brought there when my bouts with asthma became so intense I had to be admitted so my doctor could better help control my breathing.

I usually stayed in the ward where a priest, a Caucasian, from the Redemptorist parish would visit every morning. He was jolly and would announce his presence by his loud greetings. Aside from his usual pep talk, he would give candies to us young patients in the ward.

It was when I was in high school in the ‘70s when I started visiting the Camotes group of islands during summer vacations. In Tudela town, the parish priest then was Joseph “Padre Jose” Weirtz, also a Caucasian. He was already old at that time but he was still active in his parish work even if he had already done many things for the town, getting more projects than the town officials could procure.

The list was long. He was instrumental in the construction by the National Food Authority of a rice bodega in Tudela (his thinking was that having stocks of rice in the island would ensure that supply would not be cut off during emergencies like weather disturbances or when sea travel would be dangerous).

He initiated the construction of a small medical facility with a few beds to ensure that parishioners would be given immediate medical attention instead of being left unattended while waiting to be brought to the Cebu mainland. The Immaculate Conception Institute was his brainchild to give the islanders quality high school education.when he visited Malacañang, an audience with then president Marcos resulted in funds being given to Tudela for the repair of the wharf. The town was lit for four hours every night using a generator procured by the priest from his contacts from the mainland.

Padre Jose would have wanted to be buried permanently in Tudela and thus had a mausoleum built for himself in the town’s public cemetery but his relatives eventually decided to bring his remains home. He is still remembered.

It is easy to disparage priests and forget the good that many of them have done for our communities./ Sunstar Cebu

“YES, I know it’s unpopular. I would have loved to be a heroine that I convicted him. But at the end of the day, I’m bound to rule based on evidence presented by both the prosecution and defense.”—sandiganbayan Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg

Sandiganbayan Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg was one of three, in a panel of five jurists, who voted for the acquittal of former senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. Why does she think she could’ve been the heroine and win accolades? If she had voted against Revilla; there would have been three others to honor in a four to one vote.

AJ Econg stood out because she was the “ponente” or writer of the decision that said Bong Revilla did not commit plunder. And she was the one who, hours after the Sandiganbayan promulgated the decision that shook the country last Friday, Dec. 7, used that argument in trying to make herself less the villain that she, with two other justices, appeared to be. The one who stood up and spoke out.

‘Beyond reasonable doubt’

The majority of three—econg with AJ Edgardo Caldona and AJ Georgina Hidalgo—decided the prosecution failed to “establish beyond reasonable doubt” that Revilla received, directly or indirectly, kickbacks from his pork barrel called the Prior Development Assistance Fund, or PDAF. Accordingly, it ruled, he is acquitted.

Apparently, from the uproar that met the decision, the public would not be appeased with the premise and conclusion. They didn’t prove the crime, ergo Bong is innocent.

Public skepticism

In the court of public opinion, people asked:

—How Revilla could not have known what was being done about the huge amount of P224 million PDAF allocated to him. He must not be naïve, stupid or reckless if he had not known about the use of government funds. In assessing knowledge, courts don’t just look at actual knowledge; they look at circumstances that amount to knowledge.

—Why Bong neglected or, worse, gave away “commissions and rebates” from his PDAF and left the largesse to his chief aide who was not even his blood relative. Ludicrous, the dissenting justices said.

Signatures authenticated

On the supposed evidence that the signatures on Revilla’s endorsement were forged, Bong himself in a letter to COA confirmed they were his signature.

The recantation of two witnesses to the signatures became dubious with Revilla’s word that they were genuine.

The two justices who dissented—division chairman Efren de la Cruz and AJ Ma. Theresa Doloren Gomez-estoesta–-said Bong’s aide Richard Cambe and pork barrel broker Janet Napoles could not have fooled “a seasoned man” like Revilla. A cynical public cannot accept the explanation that Revilla was kept in the dark when the pork barrel and its dark secret was the buzzword in Congress at the time.

Unexplained P87 million

“Circumstantial evidence” that Econg and her majority allies dismissed included the fact that Bong failed to explain how he and his family amassed in various deposits and investments totaling P87.6 million in 30 days.

People slam the sophistry that the money was not explained but neither was it proved that it came from Revilla’s pork barrel.

Plain reasoning

That must tell us why Econg’s defense, which involves nuances of the law, can do little to deflect public hostility to the ruling, which involves plain reasoning.

A massive theft was committed. Two people were found guilty and meted the penalty “reclusion perpetua” in jail. Why should Revilla, the public official responsible for the money and reasonably believed to have profited most from it, get away?

Econg said she could’ve been a heroine. That chance is totally out, of course. Increasingly, as the fallout from the ruling intensifies, she is regarded instead as the villain up front./sunstar Cebu