The cardinal behind the news stories: as seen by a reporter who covered him for a decade
News sources and media
1. The cardinal behind the news stories: as seen by a reporter who covered him for a decade
BERNADETTE A. PARCO
First published on her Facebook page Oct. 24, 2017, then in SunStar. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024
Reporter Bernadette Parco thought he ‘would live forever… the spirit of Cardinal Vidal was youthful, vibrant and playful, even as his words also affected political and societal stirrings…’
As a reporter I covered the last decade or so of the late Ricardo Cardinal Vidal’s tenure as Archbishop of Cebu and the few years into his retirement.
In Cebu, my last stint was as church beat reporter of Sun.Star Cebu before I left and pursued job opportunities in Cagayan de Oro and then Manila.
Cardinal Vidal’s last few years in office was plagued with wide-ranging issues that a journalist would have close encounters with the popular spiritual leader in what were his twilight years.
Through this piece, however, let me introduce you to the Cardinal behind the news stories.
I, as childish as it can be, thought he would live forever. This was mainly because the spirit of Cardinal Vidal was youthful, vibrant, and playful even as his words also effected political and societal stirrings.
Behind his office desk, he was the high-ranking church official with many concerns in his mind. But he was generous with his time and would spare a few minutes for an interview.
After one such visit, a staff member told me to wait in a room next to the receiving area.
The Cardinal arrived, and we shared juice, bibingka, budbod and his anecdotes about a former president and riding a helicopter.
His Eminence was also everyone’s grandfather. Just the way he was when students interviewed him.
After the interview, the Cardinal walked us to the door and were met by two dogs, one was barking incessantly. One of the students, it turned out, was afraid of dogs.
Imagine this next scene: a smiling Cardinal carrying a little dog while waving goodbye to his young guests.
For many years, I would always follow him around Cebu to interview him.
It came to a point that when the Cardinal sees me in the crowd, whether he was about to enter the church or after he presides over a mass, there is this gesture that he makes.
Comedic timing
Either with deadpan face or with a really big smile, he would make the sign of the cross in full view of the priests and acolytes. The entire group would be in stitches, me included.
The Cardinal has perfect comedic timing!
When pushed to talk about an unforgettable Christmas gift, he related that a parishioner asked if he liked her gift. Not remembering what the gift was, he answered, “Thank you ha, masarap!”
Later on he learned, she gave him a piece of cloth that he can use to make a new pair of pants. (Cue that signature Vidal laughter.)
His health became a cause for concern but he would still attend events even if he was in pain because of osteoarthritis.
I wonder if people remember that Cardinal Vidal was born in Marinduque and that he worked mostly in Luzon provinces before Saint John Paul II sent him to Cebu.
As tall as Sto. Niño
He was happy in Cebu, he loved Cebuanos. A few times, he expressed his gratitude as he reflected on the warm welcome he received from Cebuanos. In jest, he once said in his homily, “Maybe because I am the same height as the Sto. Niño.”
Cebuanos loved him in return. The celebration of his birthday was so festive that I witnessed people greeting each other, “Happy birthday!”
Journalists were included in his prayers. “Mahirap ang trabaho niyo. Mag-iingat kayo ha,” he once told reporters.
The work of men and women in media is like carefully woven quilt depicting his dedication to his work for the Catholic Church, for the people.
Thank you, Lolo Cardi. Till we meet again! 
2. Cebu’s – and the cardinal’s – role in the 1989 coup
ATTY. CLARENCE PAUL OAMINAL
First published in CEBUpedia, The Freeman June 26, 2015. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024
The coup d’état was launched on December 1, 1989. In Cebu, BGen. Jose Commendador of the 2nd Air Division, stationed in Mactan Air Base, took the rebel side.
Lt. Col. Fusilero (a decade after becoming regional director of the Police Regional Office-7) played a leading role in Cebu, particularly in Mactan during that coup. He was then the provincial director of Negros Oriental for some time until his relief for having assaulted a human rights lawyer in Dumaguete City on September 4, 1986. He was recalled to the RECOM (Regional Command) Headquarters in Cebu City, accused together with Gen. Abenina, then RECOM 7, regional commander (today’s equivalent to PRO regional director) , and Ex-Lt. Col. Neon Ebuen (son of BGen. Benito Ebuen) who was then manager of the AFPSLAI Office in Cebu City, of joining the August 27, 1987 coup attempt. The three were charged with violations of the Articles of War before the General Court Martial. Fusilero was placed under house arrest under the custody of the commander who took over from Gen. Abenina, BGen. Mariano Baccay Jr. who was later transferred to Davao and was replaced by BGen. Benjamin Dizon who retired on November 30, 1989, who allowed Fusilero to roam freely. BGen. Raul Imperial took over RECOM 7 days before the coup.
During the months of September and October 1989, Fusilero was sighted in Negros Oriental in the company of Lt. Col Billy Bibit (who also a decade after became District Collector of the Port of Cebu) courting the support of military officers and enlisted personnel for the coup. Fusilero with his bike buddies called the CYCLONES went around Leyte, Samar, Mindanao, and areas in Luzon. It was made a cover to make contacts with supporters of the coup.
Fusilero initiated a meeting at Roy Khan Station Restaurant, Cebu City by instructing Lt. Augusto Marquez, Chief, Regional Operations and Plans Branch of the R3 Division, RECOM 7. In attendance were Major Anacleto Chagas, CO of the 347th PC Company in Toledo City, Capt. Cecil Ezra Sandalo, former Aide-de-Camp of BGen. Abenina (a decade after, Sandalo who then had the rank of Senior Superintendent became city director of the Cebu City Police Office), Lt. Marquez (now a Police Chief Superintendent), Col. Ebuen and others. Fusilero informed the attendees that the coup will be launched at 10:00 pm on November 30, 1989.
BGen. Commendador who took control of Mactan Air Base instructed Lt. Rodolfo dela Torre, his Junior Aide de Camp with about 20 enlisted personnel manned a checkpoint at the foot of the Mactan Bridge (Lapu-Lapu City side) at about 2:00 am to prevent any Cebu City troops from reaching Mactan.
Rebel soldiers aboard M/V Sweet Pearl and M/V Our Lady of Lourdes docked at the General Milling Corporation Wharf and proceeded to the Mactan Air Base. On December 4, armed with necessary clearance from VISCOM and RECOM 7, Mayor Alfredo Ouano of Mandaue City, Vice Mayor Paterno Canete, acting mayor Camilo Eyas of LapuLapu City , ABC president Paulino Dy, and Councilor Manuel Masangkay spoke to Commendador at the MAB at 6:00 pm and urged him to surrender peacefully. Gen. Commendador’s response was that he will not be the first to fire the shot but he will not surrender.
Efforts made by Cardinal Vidal, Msgr. Dakay proved futile. They even brought Ruth Commendador (wife of the general), daughter Pinky and son Dexter, also an Air Force Captain, held a tearful reunion at the Heidelberg Restaurant.
On December 9, negotiations between the government side led by Gen. Palma and the rebel side led by Fusilero, Aurelio and Nepomuceno began. Negotiations at the bridge was concluded at 2:00 pm , Gen. Commendador submitted himself to Gen. Palma and was placed under the custody of Go, while Fusilero was placed under the custody of Gen. Imperial. All others were brought to VISCOM Hq. (now Central Command in Lahug). Army soldiers boarded M/V Our Lady of Lourdes bound for Cagayan de Oro City with their two V-150s and APC, accompanied by then Congressman Vicente dela Cerna. Col. Ebuen eluded the military cordon around Mactan Island.
3. My roles as Cebu archbishop: Vidal tells MyCebu.ph
MARLEN LIMPAG
First published in MyCebu.ph Oct. 18, 2013. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024.
He hadn’t wanted the task of overseeing the Catholic Church in Cebu but has come to love the Cebuanos.
When Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was appointed Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cebu in the 1980s, he begged off from the job.
He hailed from Luzon and did not speak a single word of Bisaya and foresaw a problem communicating with his parishioners.
But from 1981, when he first came here as parish priest of the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral, to his formal appointment as Archbishop at 54 years old and all throughout his tenure, he led and grew the Church during some of Cebu’s most turbulent times.
Peacemaker
He took on the role of peacemaker, negotiating with labor protesters and rebel soldiers, advising presidents, and taking on roles that some might view as outside of the purview of the Church.
“In my second year as Archbishop, there was a massive transport strike that ran for days,” he recalled, narrating it got so bad he had to bring five spare tires when he visited the parishes because of the spikes placed by protesters on the road.
Cardinal Vidal, who retired in 2006, said the Cebuanos were suffering so he had to do something, he told us during an interview at his retirement house in a quiet suburban village in Cebu City.
He said he called all parties to a meeting that went on from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., listened to what they had to say, and presented his solution.
Mactan standoff
Unknown to many, he played a big role in ending the weeklong impasse that occurred when rebel troops seized the Mactan Air Base in Lapu-Lapu City in December of 1989 as part of an abortive attempt to overthrow President Corazon Aquino’s government.
During the negotiations with the mutineers that took around a week, Cardinal Vidal said the rebel leader at Mactan, Brig. Gen. Jose Commendador, would only talk to him.
“No one could cross the bridge, only me, and I had to prominently display the Vatican flag on my vehicle,” he said, referring to the first Mandaue-Mactan bridge that connects Mandaue to Lapu-Lapu City, site of the Mactan Air Base.
This went on for four to five days, according to Vidal.
In a last ditch attempt to convince Commendador to surrender, Vidal said he told the rebel leader: “General, look at your eyes. They’re red and your face is pale. This means you’re not sleeping. You will drop dead from the way you’re going soon.”
Rebel surrender
He said Commendador agreed to end the siege the day after this conversation. The time and venue: 9 a.m. at the top of the bridge.
The Cardinal said the general’s decision made him very happy but he couldn’t help thinking at the time that Commendador certainly had a flair for the dramatic, noting his choice of site for the surrender.
At 20 minutes to noon, Vidal said he and the governor, some mayors, and military officials walked up the bridge to meet Commendador.
There were pictures taken but Cardinal Vidal opted not to join any. Why? He said the church and state should be separate but on equal footing. When the state is down, he cited, it is the duty of the church to bring it back up to the same level.
“The Lord has given me this job,” he said, in reference to his role as Cebu’s peacemaker.
Aquino encounter
His first encounter with the late President Aquino was when she called him and asked him to come to Manila.
A newspaper column written by the late Louie Beltran had accused the President of hiding under the bed during a 1987 coup attempt against her administration.
Aquino asked for his help in setting things straight and showed him that the style of her bed allowed for no crawling space in the bottom so there was no way she could hide under it.
“I saw the the bed. How could she hide?” he told us in the course of an interview for our digital tourism project.
Estrada ouster
In the days leading to the removal of President Joseph Ejercito Estrada from office, Cardinal Vidal said a helicopter came looking for him while he was saying mass in Toledo City and caught up with his group at the Transcentral Highway.
He was told to proceed directly to the tarmac and board a plane for Manila sans any preparation. His task this time was to convince Estrada to step down.
Many people had talked to Estrada but he adamantly refused to leave Malacañang. What he remembered of that meeting with Estrada was the ousted president asking him, “Why are you here?”
Cardinal Vidal said his reply was a plea for peace: “For the sake of the Filipino people, to avoid bloodshed, I urge you to leave Malacañang.”
He visited Estrada a few times after that, upon the request of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, at his detention cell in Fort Santo Domingo in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, especially to ask about his living conditions.
Mother Teresa
He recalled quite clearly, too, when Mother Teresa came to Cebu in 1987 for the inauguration of the Gasa sa Gugma-Home for the Dying Destitute, which is being run by the sisters of the Missionaries of Charity.
Cardinal Vidal narrated how he showed her around the home and failed her standards on leading a life of simplicity.
“She saw the cabinets and want to know what they’re for. I told her they are for the sisters’ clothes and she told me to give these to the poor and replace them with cardboard boxes,” he recalled.
Mother Teresa also told him to donate the serving dishes and have the sisters use plastic ones. The sisters should also fetch water using a pail rather than have a reservoir pipe in the supply to the home.
Rich patrons of the Church who were present tried to donate money to the Missionaries of Charity, which Mother Teresa founded, but she refused it.
Cardinal Vidal laughingly shared how he went after the patrons and asked for their donations as he would like to give the money to the church-based foundation Caritas.
Warned of jail
When it’s for the good of Cebu Archdiocese, the Cardinal is not one to back down.
He said the National Historical Commission in 1990 warned him he could go to jail if he would proceed with his plan to expand the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral but went ahead anyway. Cardinal Vidal explained that he saw that his parishioners were growing and needed a bigger church.
In 1981, the structure was only the middle part and a small baptistry connected to its right side had destroyed its symmetry. It was upon his orders that the two sides were added in preparation for Cebu’s 400th anniversary celebration as a diocese in 1995.
Aside from the new exterior paint which could’ve been helmed by companies like painting services singapore, other changes he introduced include the construction of another level as a meeting place of the clergy, addition of a pipe organ from Holland costing only P3 million, and improvement of the plaza in front of the church.
“Nobody could tell me that I didn’t do anything here to meet the growing needs of the diocese,” he stressed. One thing’s for sure, no one can certainly accuse Cebu’s longest serving Archbishop of that.He took on the role of peacemaker, negotiating with labor protesters and rebel soldiers, advising presidents, and taking on roles that some might view as outside of the purview of the Church.
4. Long sermon? His advice: ‘Matulog ka na lang.’ To Johnny Mercado, he says, Publish your columns in a book.
ATTY. FRANK MALILONG JR.
First published in a SunStar column, Oct. 18, 2017. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024
During mass that he officiated in a midwestern Cebu town shortly after he was assigned here, he noticed the churchgoers’ reluctance to recite the response to the prayer of the faithful. Later, he asked one of his priests what could have been the reason for the tepid reaction. “Bishop,” the reverend replied, “you mispronounced the response. You said. Ginoo, pamatya kami instead of pamatia kami.”
The story was told by Ricardo Cardinal Vidal himself and it showed his immense, if self-deprecatory sense of humor. It was a side that he seldom, if ever, displayed publicly for obvious reasons. But when he was among friends, he let his hair loose every now and then.
A few years before he retired, we had him as speaker at one of the prayer meetings of the Alay sa Diyos Community. During the open forum that followed his talk, one of our members complained about the length of the sermon of their parish priest.
“Hija, matulog ka na lang,” he advised her, a smile crossing his face. “Hindi ka pa magkasala.”
Juan L. Mercado: “You’re a very good writer,” the cardinal told him.
He had a way of teasing you that didn’t offend. At the birthday party of Johnny Mercado many years ago, he told the then Inquirer and SunStar Cebu columnist to compile his work and publish it. “You’re a very good writer,” the cardinal told Nong Johnny. He must have noticed that I was listening because he turned to me and said, “You, too, are a good writer.” We both had a good laugh.
Sometimes, he found his sense of humor tested, in one instance quite severely. He was the guest of honor of the anniversary celebration of an old and reputable company and sat on the stage with the firm’s owners. Soon scantily clad female dancers climbed up the stage and gyrated before the visibly embarrassed owners and the cardinal. If Vidal was shocked or scandalized, he did not show it.
Vidal underwent a number of medical procedures. One of them was performed at the Chinese General Hospital, a priest friend related to me. The surgeon happened to be a Protestant minister and the procedure took quite some time to finish. When he awoke from sedation, his first words were to complain that he was hungry. In reply, the Protestant doctor reportedly told the cardinal to be patient, reminding him of the Biblical passage that “man does not live by bread alone.”
This is the Ricardo Cardinal Vidal that I will always remember: the humble, funny and compassionate shepherd, the father figure on whose lap my grandson and nephews sat when we chanced upon him at his residence, and a fellow basketball fan, who changed his prayer hours so that he could watch the games of the Chicago Bulls and reverted to his old schedule after Michael Jordan retired.
I am blessed to have met you, Your Eminence. Godspeed.
The cardinal playfully holds the tape recorder as if he were doing the interview, not then CDN reporter Lino Perone.
5. Church beat reporters called him ‘Lolo Cardinal’ or ‘Tatay Ricardo.’ Cebu’s veteran journalists would see, chat with him each New Year’s eve.
LINO GILBERT K. PERONE
First published in Cebu Daily News with the heading “Mutation of a cardinal,” October 2017. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024
I would take calmly a wild Camaro cut on my lane on the I-10 freeway anytime, but the other day, nothing prepared me for this sudden pain in my gut while I was driving home.
“Bernadette Parco, Lino Parone and Gheia of CDN; Linette Ramos of Sun.Star and Jovy Taghoy, I think of Freeman… mga stars at the turn of the millennium og paborito ni Msgr. Dakay … asa naman mo ron? Nasantos nas Pedro og ni ba-bye nas Tatay Ricardo… (Where are you now? Pedro has been made saint and Tatay Ricardo has now bid us goodbye),” appeared on my smartphone screen.
The message came from Fr. Marvin Mejia, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, knocking on my consciousness from somewhere in Cebu on the heels of the unexpected passing of a towering figure in the rich nursery of faith that is the Cebu Archdiocese.
Tatay Ricardo was also the one person whose looming presence in Cebuano society defined my journalistic years on the island, a job now effectively in the backburner. But the memories are now just bubbling up, fondly, of our Tatay Ricardo or Lolo Cardi, who was the Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, my then main source of news information on all issues pertaining the Catholic Church in one of the oldest dioceses in the Far East.
Church beat
Former publisher Ms. Eileen Mangubat assigned me the church beat of Cebu Daily News then, and together with Ms. Parco and Ms. Ramos now Cantalejo of the other regional papers, we affectionately stalked, egged, bribed with sweetness and cajoled him till he agreed to talk, almost always, like a grandfather to his impressionable grand kids, except that as journalists, we were actually trained to sift through his “Cardish” characteristic statements and get that headline-potential gist.
This troika mutually agreed to the affectionate term Lolo Cardi so as not to agitate him on prickly issues that we had to pick his brains on. The priests of the archdiocese called me Siloy after the CDN mascot, not affectionately though, because of the same issues that I had to ask them about. I couldn’t believe that this was already two decades ago.
Tri-media bigwigs
The cardinal receives offerings at mass, which opened the 12th Cebu Press Freedom Week, from then CDN publisher Eileen Mangubat and columnist Ricky Rama Poca.
Before our batch were tri-media bigwigs Ms. Eileen, Ms. Malou Guanzon-Apalisok, Atty. Pachico Seares, Sam Costanilla, Bobby Nalzaro, Jerry Tundag, Nini Cabaero, Cherry Ann Lim, Cherry Thelmo-Fernandez and Ms. Edra Benedicto, among others, waiting on the fatherly Vidal every New Year’s Eve at the Archbishop’s Residence Chapel.
Then came the generation of Jason Baguia, Cris Evert Lato Ruffolo and Ador Mayol who took over our tired, beat up trails.
The cardinal’s youthful appeal just won over them quiet as effectively as they clearly got so much from his guidance rich nuggets of learnings to catapult them over to new heights in their faith and profession. I am mighty proud of these Siloys.
Calungsod Shrine
Last Saturday, the late cardinal’s body was brought to the Saint Pedro Calungsod Archdiocesan Shrine inside the Archbishop’s Residence on Jakosalem St., in time for the 5th anniversary of the canonization of the young Cebuano saint.
We witnessed how this shrine rose from the first marker to the last floor tile, and how an agile Lolo Cardi walked us through the physical and institutional plans towards Calungsod’s promotion of devotion, beatification and eventual canonization. With Fr. Marvin and the Calungsod team we witnessed spontaneous manifestations of deeply resonant devotion to the new candidate all throughout the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Limasawa, Negros and Mindanao, where farmers, fishermen, women and children lined dusty trails bedecked with paper colors and rusty loud speakers tied to coconut trunks blasting the air with Fr. Rudy Villanueva’s Gozos to Pedro Calungsod.
“Pedro Calungsod ikaw among gisangpit, isip katagilungsod, dinhi sa yuta, og ingon man sa langit…”
Yes, this was the triumphant culmination of Cardinal Vidal’s servanthood to the Cebuanos — Pedro Calungsod’s sainthood, a fitting last stop before he joins him in eternal convocation of the faithful.
On occasions that we met here in Los Angeles, I inquired from Msgr. Achilles Dakay, Cebu Archdiocese spokesman, about Lolo Cardi’s health, with him conveying that Cardinal Vidal was never a burden to his nurses and doctors proven by test results so clean he was told he could indulge in more bisdak native delicacies than he could have his hands on.
He has really turned deeply Cebuano now, I joked.
Transformation
Born in Marinduque, Cardinal Vidal was Tagalog-raised and trained in a seminary in Sariaya, Quezon. He later on became rector of that seminary where my former seminary spiritual director Fr. Jerry Bitoon was enrolled and trained under him. But many who didn’t know this always thought that the humble cardinal was a native-born bisdak.
In many years that he served us, he mutated lovingly into the humblest of Cebuano prelates, who mastered not only the Cebuano language but acquired our deep spirit immersed in the love and bottomless affection to the Santo Niño, with unhinged freedom of a humor-filled paisano indulging in sikwati’g puto, masi, bibingka, empanada, ngohiong and occasional lechon.
Wisdom, counsel
His wisdom and gift of counsel was always sought by the powerful and the rich, his humble appointments in the confessional even by his superiors in the church. Most importantly perhaps, his fatherly presence, his Lolo Cardi appeal, was all what the Cebuanos wanted, needed, in this increasingly confounding world. But now he’s gone.
I guess an era has indeed passed, but the prelate’s legacy lives on. Cardinal Vidal’s mark is indelibly etched in the hearts of so many generations of Filipinos, so with the bisdaks who have known no other prelate in their lifetime. My family and I have known nobody else as fatherly as he was, either, and as we grieve his passing, we celebrate his love, his life most of all.
6. Could a headline just call him Vidal? My 2006 column was titled ‘Ricardo’
PACHICO A. SEARES
Republished in SunStar Oct. 18, 2017. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024.
(A News Sense column in this paper 11 years ago took up the question whether the title of a church dignitary shouldn’t be used with his name in a newspaper headline. May His Eminence Ricardo Vidal, archbishop of Cebu at the time, be simply referred to as “Vidal” in the title above a news story? Other than a peek into journalism practice, the short piece gave some insight into the man who led the Catholic Church in Cebu for decades. Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who was succeeded by Archbishop Jose Palma six years ago, died yesterday. He was 86.)
A reader once called the news desk and asked an editor if calling the archbishop of Cebu Vidal –just “Vidal” minus his title — in the headline of a news story was not being disrespectful.
“Archbishop” is too long a word to squeeze into a headline’s tight space. Even the word “cardinal” poses a problem, especially if there’s more compelling information to include in the headline.
Editors all over the world see no irreverence in dropping from the headline a person’s title, be he pope or rascal. Thus, Pope Benedict XVI is just Pope or Pope Ben and Garcillano is just Garci.
Besides, the cardinal doesn’t mind. On the contrary, I heard, he complained, perhaps in jest, about not being called “Ricardo” in the story title.
If the governor is “Gwen,” the Mandaue City mayor is “Ted” and the Cebu City mayor is “Tomas,” why can’t the cardinal see “Ricardo” in the headline?
“Gwen” is intimate, “Ted” is cute, and “Tomas” is, well, Tomas. A common trait among the three most-frequently-written headlines in local papers is, correct, brevity.
Headline writers love one-pulse words. “Jaime” was long but “Sin” was marvelous, deliciously so.
I first met Cebu’s spiritual leader shortly after he reported for his assignment as the archbishop’s coadjutor. Lugging a bulky tape-recorder to his temporary residence, then at the Cebu Metropolitan Cathedral “convento,” I asked him, What do you seek for Cebu? Gently, almost a whisper, he said, “Peace.”
Gentle peace-seeker Ricardo turned 75 yesterday.–First published Feb. 7, 2006
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Cardinal’s legacy
His death yesterday, Oct. 18, evoked images of Ricardo Vidal as peace-seeker. Whenever conflict broke out, in the occasional tumult in Cebu’s politics, governance and society, he was the mediator who brought feuding groups to the negotiating table.
The images Cebuanos remember of Cardinal Vidal were those of the man between, the broker for peace. Though there was a time after his retirement that some protest groups exploited his good name and influence to prop up their dissent, that did little to tarnish his work of inspiring his flock and helping resolve discord in the community.
In one “merienda cena” that the cardinal would treat church co-workers and friends with after a Christmas eve mass at the archbishop’s residence, the late Cerge Remonde, broadcaster-turned-Cabinet- member from Cebu, told him, “You’re not only a holy man, you’re a great man.” Cardinal Vidal promptly put a finger to his lips to shush Cerge.
7. When an ex-monk sued for libel the cardinal, an editor-priest, a bishop and the head monk at Simala shrine
PACHICO A. SEARES
First published in SunStar Jan. 10, 2010. Adapted in CJJ Oct. 18, 2024.
Former monk Venancio Cabillon has sued for libel Cardinal Vidal, archbishop of Cebu; Fr. Marnell Mejia, “Bag-ong Lungsoranon” editor; Msgr. Cristobal Garcia and Frater Martin Mary, head of the Marian Monks, who run the Virgin Mary shrine in Sibonga.
The cardinal, a priest, a bishop and the head monk: very unlikely respondents.
In 12th century England, that was unheard of. The priests had immunity under the principle of “benefit of clergy.”
Not anymore in that country, not ever in ours.
What we have is “presumption of innocence,” which everyone, priest or not, who’s accused of a crime, enjoys.
But priests are sued mostly for sexual abuse, rarely for libel.
One doesn’t take the priest to court for what he says in his homily or in a Catholic weekly paper that flogs sinning but not identified sinners.
“Bag-ong Lungsoranon” published a notice of Cabillon’s expulsion. He left the monk’s group; he wasn’t expelled, he said.
Cabillon also opened a can of worms, including alleged scandalous sexual behavior and crass commercialism at the shrine.
Hitting back, the monks filed charges of estafa and acts of lasciviousness against Cabillon.
Absence of malice
The lawsuit from the publication of the ad is just a siding.
But it set off the ex-monk’s expose of alleged evil in that shrine, which is the main dish.
It’s distracting. And it cruelly drags church leaders to the humiliation of responding to a criminal charge.
Throw out the libel. Cabillon can’t prove malice by God’s stewards. Focus instead on the scandal allegedly going on at the shrine.