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Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wenceslao: Twists in the Belciña case
By Bong O. Wenceslao
The truth, for sure, did not come tumbling down when the supposedly special panel of prosecutors dropped the rape charges against Fr. Jose Belciña and recommended instead the filing of a child abuse complaint. Rather, what we have is another interpretation, an unpalatable one I say, of what happened between the priest and the girl.
So, as the panel said, the sex was consensual? That bolstered accusations hurled at the girl that, in sum, conclude that her values are all screwed up. I have checked with some sources and their description of the girl didn’t come near that (or surely, she must not have been a scholar of the Church for nothing). In this sense, the unfairness stings.
Consider the reaction of Msgr. Achilles Dakay, media liaison of the Cebu archdiocese. Dakay, who has since Day One tried to shield Belciña, said: “Some people are lying.” Of course, she meant the girl and the people that helped her file the now dropped rape complaints. My, how the archdiocese must have felt “vindicated”!
With Dakay reacting like that, I shudder at what Belciña’s supporters in the parish he used to serve in, Maslog in Danao City, would do. Note that immediately after the rape story was made public and during the deliberation of the panel of prosecutors, some of these supporters went overboard and hurled insults at the girl every time they saw her.
One can argue, though, that the prosecutors’ hands are tied and that there’s nothing much they can do considering the evidence presented. (Or, one may add, how well the case was argued.) But that is precisely the reason why some people are worried about the outcome of the Ecleo case. This is not only about evidence but the truth as well.
Admittedly, I may have been unfair to Belciña, too. Maybe he is innocent as he professed or that there was no rape, only consensual sex as the prosecutors saw it. But until one can give me a credible (stress is on credible) enough motive why the girl would risk ridicule and turn against her benefactor, then my views on this case won’t change.
Which brings me to my misgivings with the way the Cebu archdiocese, especially Dakay, handled the Belciña case. My impression is that the archdiocese transformed itself into an “old boys” club, defending its own and conveniently forgetting that the girl, also a Catholic, has as much a right to the Church’s protection or help as the priest.
But then again, the archdiocese can claim that the girl and her family were the ones that shied away from efforts to investigate the case or offers to help.
Weren’t they invited to a probe? Yet those acts came only after Church officials’ statements tended to downplay the accusation and made the case look like an “archdiocese vs. the girl” thing.
TEXTREAX. From 0910-8051111: “Even if they manage to impeach President Arroyo, the ballgame will still be the same, although the players are different.
Thieves will still be running the country. Those people are not fighting for the good of the country but for a share of the loot. The people who voted these thieves into office certainly got what they deserve.”
(khanwens@yahoo.com/ 0915-9228651/my blog: cebuano.wordpress.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 29, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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