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Wednesday, January 15, 2003
Ex-altar boy goes to court v. priest
By Karlon N. Rama
CEBU -- A complaint for acts of lasciviousness and child abuse were filed Tuesday against the Order of St. Augustine priest who, last year, was openly accused of abusing some former altar boys of the Basilica del Sto. Niņo.
Michal Gatchalian, through the Children's Legal Bureau (CLB), filed the complaint against Fr. Apolinario "Jing" Mejorada before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor yesterday afternoon.
The case was raffled off for preliminary investigation, with Mejorada being asked to submit a counter-affidavit and appear for a hearing in about a week.
Neither Mejorada nor the Archdiocese of Cebu has issued comments regarding the case.
Gatchalian, 21, narrated that the abuse began in January 1998 when he was only 17. He said the priest fondled him and another altar boy inside a movie theater.
He said the incident was repeated in September 1999 and that, this time, he formally lodged a complaint against Mejorada before the officials of Order of St. Augustine (OSA), to which Mejorada belongs.
However, the OSA priests tried to cover up the incident instead of helping him and that while Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal created a committee to do an investigation sometime in August 2001, he has not been given any update even until now.
Episcopal Vicar Msgr. Esteban Binghay said Gatchalian "has all the right" to file a criminal complaint if the allegation is indeed true and he felt aggrieved.
He, however, said that revealing information on the Archdiocese's investigation into the accusation is reserved only for Cardinal Vidal.
"Provided it (filing of complaint) is good for the victims, the perpetrators, and the whole community, not out of revenge," Binghay said.
Dave Sagrado of the Basilica del Sto. Niņo rector's office, on the other hand, said no one from among the OSA priests was available to comment on the matter.
Sun.Star sought Frs. Bong Mesina and Ambrosio Galindez but Sagrado said the two priests could not spare time because they were busy preparing for the Sto. Niņo fiesta celebration.
The cardinal revealed last Sunday that some findings of the investigation tend to support the allegations of four former altar boys, among them Gatchalian, that Mejorada sexually abused them.
The Archdiocese, however, did not come up with recommendations or sanctions against the former basilica rector. Vidal wants to consult the Augustinian priests first.
At least three of the former altar boys had agreed to a P120,000 settlement each in October 2000 on condition that Mejorada will be suspended from the OSA.
They sought the help of Vidal last July after learning that Mejorada was seen at the basilica when he should have been undergoing psychological treatment.
In his five-page affidavit, Gatchalian narrated that he met Mejorada in the summer of 1997, while he was an altar boy at the Basilica del Sto. Niņo.
Mejorada, who was then just visiting the basilica, was introduced to him and the other altar boys as the founder of the Knights of Sto. Niņo, the organization he was part of since 1995.
Gatchalian eventually got close to Mejorada, whose visits became more frequent. He, Mejorada and the other altar boys go out to meet past members of the Knights every time Mejorada came to the basilica for a visit.
In 1997, Mejorada eventually became a guest priest, and subsequently obtained a permanent designation to the basilica.
Gatchalian said that last Jan. 11, 1998, around 7 p.m., Mejorada asked him and a friend, Jun Ryan Duhaylungsod, to ride with him aboard his (priest's) motorbike.
They were told that he (Mejorada) was going to meet a nurse-friend at the Ayala Center.
But the nurse did not arrive, forcing a change of plans that had the priest inviting them to go to the movie house instead.
Gatchalian said Mejorada touched his thighs and fondled him while inside the movie house and that while he tried to resist, the priest got his way anyway.
Duhaylungsod, he said, was also touched during the incident, with Mejorada telling Gatchalian afterwards that he was "better hung" than his friend while "laughing like a maniac."
Duhaylungsod executed an affidavit in support of Gatchalian's claim.
Gatchalian shared the incident with some of his close friends at the basilica and was informed that the priest also similarly abused other altar boys.
After the incident, Mejorada repeatedly asked for forgiveness and appeared to have mended his ways.
He again became close to the priest, even to the point of becoming his student in Spanish.
On Sept. 7, 1999, Mejorada invited him to go to Loon, Bohol with him to attend the town fiesta. The priest again abused him.
Gatchalian said he reported the incident to Fr. Vicente Ampalayo but nothing was done.
He then told his seminarian-brother about the incident and that it was his brother who informed one Fr. Romel Par who, in turn, reported the incident to Mejorada's superior, Fr. Edgardo Lazo.
After word got out, Gatchalian and some other altar boys were thereafter disallowed from serving in masses.
He also wrote Mejorada and asked him to settle the matter with an apology, otherwise he would go to a lawyer.
Mejorada, he said, met him the next day but arrived in the company of lawyer Paul Yabao who then asked how much they wanted.
"During that meeting, Fr. Jing admitted his lascivious acts committed against us and even kissed our feet and cried and started to hug us. However, I stopped him and instead demanded from him to make a public apology," Gatchalian said in his affidavit.
The priest countered by offering P80,000 so that he could go back to school. They had left school because of failing grades after the first incident.
He said Mejorada paid the amount on installment and, after the last payment in November 1999, had him sign a quitclaim. He signed the document but still demanded an apology.
The next month, Fr. Ampalayo, the first priest he informed about Mejorada's abuses, called him and other altar boys to a retreat in Danao.
He was surprised at the invitation but realized upon getting there that they were merely being requested again to desist from further pursuing the matter against Mejorada and getting the priest to make a public apology.
He said that after the retreat, he then went to a lawyer for the filing of a case but this did not push through because Mejorada disappeared from the basilica.
Fr. Lazo, in a separate incident, also appealed to him not to pursue the matter because Mejorada has been made to undergo therapy. Also, Gatchalian added, Lazo offered that he also undergo counseling at the expense of the priest.
Gatchalian said he still asked for a public apology and continued demanding for one, approaching Order of St. Augustine Prior Provincial Fr. Richard Pido for help.
He said Pido arranged a meeting between him and Mejorada in April 2000 where the priest again was willing to discuss payment but no apology.
Subsequent talks between Gatchalian and Mejorada, represented by his priest-brother, Fr. Mario Mejorada, led to a P120,000 offer for him, Duhaylungsod and another victim.
They were also told that Mejorada has been expelled from the Order of St. Augustine and will now be leaving for Africa for a mission.
"We were persuaded to accept the money because our lawyers convinced us to just accept the amount because it is very difficult to file and pursue a case in court. Furthermore, we thought that since Fr. Jing had already been expelled by the order and will be going to Africa, that would already be enough punishment for him and he will not be able to bother us anymore," he said.
However, months after that, on May 25, 2002, they saw Mejorada waiving at them at the basilica's Pilgrim Center. He was readmitted to the order since March yet. Sun.Star Cebu |
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