PEOPLE are talking about...
* HOW GARMA WOULD FARE AT PCSO? Skeptics say Cebu City Police Director Royina Garma is best at tangling with hostile mayors and waging the drug campaign (confirmed), and helping influence election results (suspected, not proved). Those are skills which may not be useful in battling irregularities at Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Garma reportedly opted for early retirement to accept the PCSO post. A source said the appointment had been promised long before the campaign period.
* SEX VIDEO OF TWO STUDENTS IN CAGAYAN DE ORO, which was uploaded in PornHub and later reportedly deleted by the Canadian film-streaming service.
The video features a girl, 17, and a boy, 16, both high school seniors. Parents of the girl sought the help of Anti-Cybercrime Group 10 (Northern Mindanao) who in turn asked PornHub. Possible violations for the ones responsible in the uploading of the video: laws against video voyeurism (Republic Act #9995), child pornography (RA #9795) and violence against women (RA #9262). The main suspect being a minor, the procedure for children in conflict with the law will also apply.
* THE PROBABLE NEXT HOUSE SPEAKER ...is Marinduque Representative Lord Allan Velasco. His party, PDP-Laban, is the biggest bloc in the coming 18th Congress with about 90 members. It is President Rodrigo Duterte however who will clinch it for him, or someone else, when he announces the ruling party's choice on Friday (June 28).
Not a demotion
The massive and "grand" reshuffle of priests, announced last June 14 at the San Pedro Calungsod chapel at SM in South Road Properties, had at least one major complaint: from a "monsignor" who will be "demoted" to being a member of the team that is assigned to a neighboring city. It has caused ripples among the clergy because the priest is high-profile and the talk has already spread even among parishioners in his old post and those in his new assignment.
"Mons" has been the parish priest of a major parish in uptown Cebu City, heading the group of priests assigned there. Under the new assignment, which takes effect August 6, he will be just a member. Another priest will lead the group of priests.
Can he refuse the assignment? He may, a source told SunStar, but he risks not getting any other posting or getting an assignment elsewhere, which may even be less acceptable to "Mons."
It's not known if "Mons" already relayed his sentiment to Archbishop Jose Palma, who left immediately from the Calungsod chapel after the list was read.
'Monsignor' just a title
A local Catholic Church source said "monsignor" is "purely honorary title and has no effect on priestly duties and ministerial assignments." It is "honorific," a form of address, and does not specify a position.
There's no bar therefore for the assignment of a monsignor to serve as member, not as leader, of a team of priests. One of the aims of the reshuffle was to give team heads the experience of serving as members.
How does a priest get to be addressed as monsignor? A bishop recommends to the Pope, through the archbishop, that a priest be granted the title for "exceptional service," which in the context of the Filipino culture may refer to someone close to, or in the good graces, of the bishop.
Pope Francis, however, in January 2014 instructed that the future grant of the title monsignor to priests outside the Vatican service apply only to those who reach the age of 65.
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