Ex-magistrate to appeal case against Dominican priest
FORMER Sandiganbayan justice Harriet O. Demetriou vowed on Thursday to appeal a Quezon City court’s decision to grant a motion to quash the case she filed against Dominican priest Ferdinand Winston F. Cabading for “offending religious feelings.”
Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 224 Judge Zita Marie M. Atienza-Fajardo ruled that Ms. Demetriou, also a former chairperson of the Commission on Elections, did not provide sufficient evidence of Mr. Cabading violations of the law.
A Marian devotee, Ms. Demetriou took offense at the priest’s remarks back in 2022 that discredited the Marian apparition at a Carmelite Monastery in Lipa, Batangas in 1948.
She filed charges of violation of Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes offending religious feelings, or Section 6 of Republic Act 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, which addresses crimes committed using information and communications technologies.
“The Court holds that neither the original Information nor the Amended Information is sufficient as the same did not set forth the specific allegation of every fact and circumstance necessary to constitute the crime of offending religious feelings through and with the use of information and communications technologies,” read part of the nine-page decision rendered by Ms. Atienza-Fajardo.
The court rejected Ms. Demetriou’s accusations that Mr. Cabading offended the feelings of the faithful, stating that “the acts must be directed against religious practice or dogma or ritual for the purpose of ridicule, as mocking or scoffing at or attempting to damage an object of religious veneration.”
The court also noted that Mr. Cabading’s statements were not made during a religious ceremony but were expressed through a Facebook livestream of Wendell Talibong’s “Pananampalataya at Katuwiran,” which the priest, known for exorcism, does not own or manage.
In response to the decision, Ms. Demetriou told BusinessWorld in a text message: “My lawyers and I are going to appeal it to the court of appeals and all the way to the Supreme Court, which is the final arbiter of all legal disputes. We’re going to exhaust all legal remedies provided for by law.”
Mr. Cabading in a Messenger chat thanked the judge for ruling in his favor.
“We thank the Judge for the decision. Despite the arrest of May last year, I was confident that the truth will eventually prevail, for I have faith in our justice system,” he said.
The charges filed by Ms. Demetriou back in December, 2022, resulted in Mr. Cabading’s arrest on May 13, 2023. He was granted provisional liberty after two days upon posting bail.
The Marian apparition in Lipa, meanwhile, was debunked by the Vatican in 1951. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana