Court allows priest to travel subject to posting of travel bond

MANILA — A Quezon City court has ordered the prosecution to amend an “offending religious feelings” case against an exorcist priest after it found that the criminal charge against him failed to state an offense.

In an order dated August 29, Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 Judge Madonna Echiverri gave the public prosecutor 30 days to amend the information or criminal charge against Fr. Winston Cabading, a Dominican priest accused of ridiculing the alleged Marian apparition in Lipa, Batangas in 1948. Otherwise, the court said, it “shall dismiss this case.”

Former Comelec chairperson and Sandiganbayan justice Harriet Demetriou, who is a Marian devotee, filed the case against Cabading over his statements in a 2020 online show where he cited the Vatican’s statement that the petals from the apparition are “not from God” and that the Our Lady of Lipa devotees are not true Marian devotees because they supposedly only want to listen to “what pleases them.”

Cabading was arrested in Nasugbu, Batangas in May and was freed on bail set at P18,000.

But the priest moved to quash the criminal charge, claiming that there was no allegation he made the statements in a place devoted for worship nor during the celebration of any religious ceremony, as required under Art. 133 of the Revised Penal Code.

The court stopped short of immediately junking the case but agreed with Cabading that the information was not sufficient to constitute an offense.

Under Art. 133 of the Revised Penal Code, the prosecution must prove 2 essential elements — that the acts complained of were done in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of a religious ceremony; and that the act must be “notoriously offensive” to the feelings of the faithful.

“This court finds nothing in the quoted statements made by accused to be offensive nor punishable by law. No object of veneration was damaged or destroyed by the accused in a religious ceremony nor was there any religious ceremony to speak of,” it said.

The court said Cabading’s statements are “not of his own but he was merely echoing what ‘the Vatican said’ or based on the dogma of the church.”

“The statements were not notoriously offensive, there was no scoffing and do not appear to ridicule. It was not a personal conviction but that which is stated by the Vatican. There was no scoffing of the Mother Mary whom the private complainant venerates,” it explained.

The court also pointed out that a religious ceremony includes “masses, baptism, weddings, funerals, rituals and similar practices which involve prayers, hymns, readings and symbolic actions by the religious or the Church within the Church premises” and not a program or podcast uploaded on Facebook.

“The information also failed to state that it was accused who uploaded the program in Facebook for livestreaming. In fact, the information states that the program was hosted by Bro. Talindong and not by accused,” it added.

In the same ruling, the court also granted Cabading’s motion for permission to travel, noting that he is not a flight risk but was directed to pay a travel bond twice the amount of his bail.

The exorcist priest, who is also a theologian, will attend the International Conference of the Association of Exorcists in Rome, Italy, on September 25 to 30, 2023.

The case against Cabading and his arrest prompted calls from legal experts, including former Comelec chair Christian Monsod, a framer of the 1987 Constitution, to revoke the “offending religious feelings” provision for being unconstitutional.

He said the provision was "too overbroad" and was a "throwback to the age of Church intolerance and oppression" prevalent during the Spanish colonial era.

• Calls to revoke religious feelings offense renewed after case vs. priest

The most prominent among those convicted of the crime was celebrity tour guide and historian Carlos Celdran, whom a Manila court sentenced in 2013 to up to 1 year, 1 month and 11 days in prison for pulling a “Damaso” stunt at the Manila Cathedral in September 2010 as a protest to the Catholic Church’s position on family planning.

• Celdran found guilty of 'offending religious feelings'

He died in October 2019 at the age of 46.

• Carlos Celdran passes away