Thursday, April 26, 2007 Church doesn’t have records, photo of Fr. Ejares By Nancy R. Cudis Sun.Star Correspondent
EXCEPT for his application for an NBI clearance, no other records or photographs of Fr. Benedicto Ejares could be found at the offices of the Archdiocese of Cebu, San Carlos Seminary College and the Sta. Lucia parish in Asturias town.
A staff of the archdiocese confirmed that they have no photos of Ejares in their records, since their collection of photographs includes only those of Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and activities of the archdiocese.
Ejares graduated from the San Carlos Seminary College in 1989, but the college didn’t start to have yearbooks and school publications until very recently, a source said.
Only typewritten documents prove that Ejares was among those who graduated at that time.
Ejares was accused of committing lascivious and immoral acts against high school students during confession at the Abellana National School in November last year.
He was assigned as parish priest of Sta. Lucia Parish in the northwestern town of Asturias from 1998 to 2002, but the parish secretary said they also don’t have records on the personal data of the priest.
The secretary told Sun.Star Cebu that she started her job around the same time Fr. Omen Mahusay, the priest who replaced Ejares, was assigned to the parish in 2003.
Very few documents and records were turned over to her, she said.
While she doesn’t know Ejares, the secretary said she knows that it was the priest who started the construction of the parish convent, which also serves as the parish office and the priest’s residence.
Ejares’ former parishioners in Asturias were interviewed over the weekend but requested anonymity.
Another parishioner interviewed by Sun.Star Cebu said she remembers Ejares for the discipline he instilled among his parishioners. He officiated baptisms only on the first Sunday of the month and prohibited gambling activities during wakes.
He also would not celebrate mass in chapels that are not under his parish.
Another resident from Guinabasan came to Ejares’ defense, saying that the priest often joked and was known as an amiable person.
“His closeness to the girls was probably taken in a bad light by the high school students who accused him, especially when he was a stranger to them,” the source said in Cebuano.
National Bureau of Investigation 7 Special Investigator Jed Hife earlier said they got the name Benedicto from the NBI 7 clearance application that the priest had filled out by hand.
