“SA USA ka lugar nga balaan, balaan sad ang buhaton.”
(In a place that is sacred, one must do what is a sacred thing to do.)
This was what Fr. Glenn Guanzon, head of the Archdiocese of Cebu’s Liturgical Committee, said in response to the viral video in which a priest assigned at the Sto. Tomas de Villanueva Parish in Danao City was dancing along with his altar boys to the tune of the Vietnamese song, “See Tình (See Love),” during the eighth day of the Misa de Gallo on Dec. 23, 2022.
Guanzon, who is also the head of the team of pastors of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, told SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, Dec. 28, that even though the priest had made the performance after the mass, he shouldn’t have done it inside church premises.
“The place truly matters. It was improper that he had done it inside the church since it is a sacred place,” Guanzon said in a mix of English and Cebuano.
Guanzon said that Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma was already informed of the incident, and he said that the prelate may have already summoned the priest to shed light on the matter.
It will be up to Palma if he will discipline the priest or not, Guanzon added.
The priest, whose name cannot be disclosed pending his comment, came under fire after a video of him and his altar boys dancing to the song that is popular on Tiktok after the Misa de Gallo went viral.
Earlier, Msgr. Joseph Tan, spokesperson for the Archdiocese, said the priest’s dance was not a “moral issue,” but he later said that what the priest did may have offended some people.