BishopAccountability.org
	Priest in Sex Rap Asked: Surface Sun.Star [Philippines] April 13, 2007 http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2007/04/13/news/priest.in.sex.rap.asked.surface.html R. Benedicto Ejares was urged to surface and answer all charges against him, if only to clear his name. Cebu City Councilor Gerardo Carillo believes the priest is still in the country anyway and will not be able to leave, after the Bureau of Immigration placed him in their watch list. He also urged the Archdiocese of Cebu to have the priest come forward. Pinoy Votes: Sun.Star Election 2007 The Archdiocese of Cebu will keep off the complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against Ejares for alleged lasciviousness conduct while hearing confession at the Abellana National High School (ANS) last Nov. 14. "Let justice take its course," said Cebu Archdiocese media liaison officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay. NBI Regional Director Medardo de Lemos filed the complaint against Ejares before the Office of the Cebu City Prosecutor last Wednesday afternoon for seven counts of acts of lasciviousness and a separate complaint for sexual harassment. When sought for comment, Auxiliary Bishop Julito Cortes said he is not the right person to ask about the whereabouts of Ejares but Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal. However, the cardinal is still in Marinduque. Although Dakay earlier said he does not know where Ejares is, he made clear yesterday that the archdiocese is not hiding Ejares. The archdiocese also has no action yet on Ejares, Dakay said. The complaints, all students of ANS, were able to identify the priest from an NBI clearance application photo kept in the agency's archives. NBI Special Investigator Jed Hife said they got the name Benedicto from the clearance application that the priest had filled out by hand. The clearance was for travel abroad. The priest reportedly went to Australia. She said they decided to go with that name even though the Archdiocese website listed a Fr. Benjamin Zozobrado Ejares, not Benedicto. Carillo is not worried about names, though, saying it is the positive identification of Ejares by the seven complainants that matters. And the fact that they came forward against the priest is a positive development. He said only four of the 20 high school students who had said they were victimized were willing to execute affidavits. Carillo sits as the legal counsel of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) where his wife, Jaybee, also works. The DSWD referred the case to the NBI. The children went to the DSWD first but the agency, which does not have subpoena powers, was unable to compel the Cebu Archdiocese to name the priests who took part in the Nov. 13-14, 2006 Life in the Spirit seminar at the ANS. The NBI probe kept on close to four months even though the documentation phase only lasted a few weeks because the NBI wanted to give the priest ample time to answer the subpoena it had sent. Lascivious conduct is penalized under Section 339 of the Revised Penal Code, while child abuse is covered by Republic Act (RA) 7610. Sexual harassment, meanwhile, is defined by another special law—Republic Act 7877. According to an ABS-CBN TV Patrol Cebu report, parishioners of Sta. Lucia Parish in Asturias town, where Ejares once served, described the priest as a good person and a joker. They cannot believe that Ejares would do such a thing. A parent of one of the seven high school students who complained against Ejares hoped that Cardinal Vidal will make the priest come forward.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.