Friday, November 02, 2007 Police stops ‘solicitation drive’ in Carreta
TWO teenagers and a man were held yesterday afternoon at the Waterfront Police Station for allegedly soliciting money from cemetery visitors using envelopes of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral.
Eighteen-year-old Gino Lastimado Escobido of Lawaan 3, Talisay City, a 13-year-old boy and Herbert Mayuman, 22, both from Occidental Negros, said they were members of the Pentecostal Missionary Church of Christ based in Occidental Negros.
They said they are on a mission to “preach God’s Word.”
They were picked up about 3:30 p.m. after a concerned citizen called the attention of the policemen at the Carreta cemetery.
Envelopes
More than 20 assorted envelopes were confiscated from them, including five envelopes marked “Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, Mabini, pamisang halad alang sa kalag sa purgatoryo.”
One envelope contained a P50 bill.
Some envelopes were already empty because the three said their “pastor” already took them.
SPO 4 Julius Umpad of the Waterfront Police Station said he called up Msgr. Cayetano Gelboli-ngo, the cathedral’s parish priest, to verify if the church has given authority to solicit offerings for masses.
Gelbolingo told him no.
It is misrepresentation to solicit for mass offerings in the name of the cathedral without the church officials’ authority, Umpad told Sun.Star Cebu in a phone interview.
While Msgr. Gelbo-lingo asked Umpad to forgive the three, the police officer warned them not to go to the Carreta cemetery today or they will be charged with swindling or fraud.
Denial
In an interview with radio dyLA, Mayuman denied getting the envelopes from Metropolitan Cathedral. He passed the blame to his two companions, who also denied distributing the envelopes.
However, Mayuman said he recognized the two as members of the same church, but in a different locality.
He also denied any links with the two.
“I came here on a mission alone. We were asked go to populated places to ask for assistance,” Mayuman said in Filipino.
He said the money would be used for their mission to preach in different places and not as mass offerings for the souls in purgatory—despite the markings on some of the envelopes. (TEP)
