Reporting on the Clergy

---

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish, Lutopan, Toledo City

1. Lutopan, Toledo parishioners protest against their priest

BOBBY NALZARO
First published in SunStar
Jan, 6, 2017. Adapted
to CJJ Nov. 27, 2025.

QUARRELS BETWEEN PRIESTS AND PARISHIONERS are common though not frequent occurrences in a number of parishes across the Cebu Archdiocese.

Yet they hardly break into the news, especially in print, because the news media, except a broadcaster or two, hardly tread on religion’s sensitive ground. Unless the dispute goes to court or the parish priest is charged and, in one case, is thrown into jail, mostly-Catholic reporters and editors keep off the story.

Bobby G. Nalzaro, who died March 17, 2022 at 58, was a radio commentator who also wrote columns for SunStar Cebu. His daring before the mic would spill over to print and prompt him to write about disputes between priests and parishioners.
Two of three columns here deal with reconciliation and continued stand-off resulting from a quarrel.

Subjects of the intramurals ranged from alleged cruelty of a Lutopan, Toledo City priest to “immoral acts” of two Minglanilla priests — one accused of having a threesome with two women at the back of the church and the other, of sexually harassing two altar boys after a drinking session — to a priest’s alleged mishandling of church funds in Simala, Sibonga.

“Juicy” stuff most of which wouldn’t otherwise have seen print.

CJJ picked three columns from Bobby Nalzaro to put on record that local reporting on the clergy wasn’t totally bland. PAS

SOME parishioners of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish in Lutopan, Toledo City are up in arms against their newly assigned parish priest, Fr. Rolando Manayon. They want the priest to be investigated and possibly transferred. In their position paper addressed to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma and to the Board of Consultors of the Cebu Archdiocese, the parishioners expressed their sentiments and concerns over Fr. Manayon’s conduct and policies that might destroy the good and harmonious relationship between the Church and the Catholic faithful in the parish.

Fr. Manayon, together with Fr. Severino Escovido, were assigned in Lutopan September of last year following a massive revamp among parish priests undertaken by the Cebu Archdiocese. They replaced Fr. Domingo Tapic and Fr. Rogen Leyson, who served the parish for eight years and were loved by parishioners. Fr. Manayon, who was previous assigned in St. John of Sahagon parish in Toledo, was also a subject of the same complaint by his parishioners there.

One recent inhuman incident involving Fr. Manayon was the sudden and “unreasonable” termination of the services of two secretaries of the Catholic rectory in the parish.

Gigie Peralta and Mila Baylon spent decades of unselfish, honest and dedicated service to the parish despite the meager monthly remuneration they received. But days after the assumption of Fr. Manayon, their services were terminated without justifiable reason. When the two sought an explanation, Fr. Manayon reportedly shouted at them in front of many parishioners.

The priest reportedly told them, “Gusto ninyo nga labayon nako og yawe kanang inyong baba?” The priest accused them of theft without presenting evidence. Some parishioners suffered the same fate even for simple matters. The parishioners claimed Fr. Manayon is “weird” and is not approachable. Workers in the Catholic cemetery were not spared Manayon’s “wrath.” He accused them of “theft” and terminated their services right away.

Fr. Manayon supposedly disagrees with the present rate of stipends for those who avail of the sacraments of matrimony, baptism and burial. He refuses to officiate mass if the parties cannot pay the required rate. Even the dead scheduled for burial cannot be brought inside the church if the relatives cannot pay P1,500.

Sa dihang gipangutana sa iyang mga parokyano nganong dili misahan ang patay kon dili makabayad ang tagtungod, miingon lang kuno ang pari nga, “Ah, patuga-tuga og kamatay nga dili man diay makabayad sa pagpamisa.” If this is true, pagkabati gud diay og batasan ning paria.

Meanwhile, the purpose of the creation of the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) is for consultation. But in the case of Fr. Manayon, when he calls for a meeting with PPC officers, no consultation reportedly happens because the priest already has prepared plans and wants the PPC to implement these as is. The parishioners said he is a kind of a dictator, claiming he is the “boss” and the sole decision-maker.

For reasons only known to him, Fr. Manayon decided not to continue the construction of the new parish church, which is already near completion.

The parishioners, in their position letter, claimed that the assignment of Fr. Manayon to their parish was a big mistake. Instead of promoting peace, harmony and good relations with the faithful, Fr. Manayon’s questionable conduct could create animosity in the parish. They want Manayon to be out of their parish before things get worse.

Well, this is not the first time I received a complaint arising from a conflict between the parish priest and parishioners. But sad to say, the hierarchy of the archdiocese is not responsive to the demands of parishioners to pull out their priest to avoid further conflicts. The tendency is for Church officials to side with their priest even if he has committed wrongdoings that paint a negative image of the clergy and the Church.

Remember the case of the controversial Minglanilla priests? Despite the petition of many parishioners against the Team Ministry members, the Church leadership remained “deaf.” Maayo man lang ning taga simbahan motambag ba pero daghan pong salawayon diha nila.

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Minglanilla, Cebu

2. Minglanilla priests, lay ministers reconcile

BOBBY NALZARO
First published in SunStar
Feb. 11, 2012. Adapted
to CJJ Nov. 18, 2025

ALL’S well that ends well, so to speak. The Team Ministry of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Minglanilla and lay ministers who demanded the transfer of the priests for committing immoral acts have reconciled.

This following a dialogue with Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma last Monday at the Cebu Catholic Television Network (CCTN) compound under the auspices of brother Dodong Limchua, who heads the Oasis of Love, a charismatic group associated with the Catholic Church.

In that dialogue, the priests headed by their team moderator, Fr. Scipio “Jojo” Deligero, promised the lay ministers and the acolytes that they can resume serving the church.

The Team Ministry did not allow the lay ministers and the acolytes to serve during masses following an expose by altar boys of the immoral acts committed by two priests. One priest was accused of having sex with two women at the back of the church. The other was accused of sexually harassing two altar boys after a drinking session.

The first priest has already been “reprocessed” or rehabilitated and is already out of the parish. The second priest is still in the parish and was reportedly one of the causes of conflict between some parishioners and the Team Ministry. He used the pulpit to lambast their detractors.

The priests and the lay ministers may have reconciled but the issues confronting the priests who committed immoral acts have been left un-acted by the Church hiirarchy.

Why was the second priest not disciplined? What about the demand of some parishioners for the proper accounting of the donations received by the Team Ministry?

Did the donations go to the church coffers or did these instead go to the priests’ pockets? The failure of the priests to render a proper accounting of the donations triggered the resignation of the previous members of the Parish Pastoral Council.

What about Fr. Jojo’s alleged links to a multi-million-peso resort development in the mountain barangays of Minglanilla? The project will displace several farmer-beneficiaries of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Do church officials allow priests to be used by interested parties for personal and business gain? Will church officials play deaf to this undertaken because the developer is a church benefactor who donated millions of pesos to the parish?

For me, this is an insult to the church and to the Catholic religion. Fr. Jojo should resign from priesthood and enter into a business venture with his benefactor. Members of the Team Ministry had committed sins and were given the chance to reform. Some of them continued to commit sins, however.

Our Lady of Divine Grace Parish, Simala, Sibonga, Cebu

3. Conflict in Simala parish still unresolved

BOBBY NALZARO
First published in SunStar
Jan. 22, 2016. Adapted
to CJJ Nov. 19, 2025

A GROUP of parishioners, who are up in arms against their parish priest, Fr. Fulton Varga, in Simala, Sibonga accused the Cebu Archdiocese of playing deaf to their demand to discipline the priest or transfer him from the parish over financial and sexual advances issues.

Jun Bacaltos Canonigo, leader of the almost 1,000 parishioners who signed the petition paper, accused Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma of being insensitive to their concerns by ignoring their petition against Varga. Because of Palma’s inaction, parishioners are losing respect for their parish priest. Some of them won’t attend mass anymore in their church. For them Varga has no moral ascendancy to lead the parish. They demand for his ouster.

The conflict between Varga and Canonigo’s group stemmed from suggestion by some parishioners for the parish to open a bank account where the church’s income and donations would be deposited. Under the current setup, Varga keeps the money without even informing the finance committee of the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) about its status.

When Canonigo and some parishioners broached the idea of opening a parish bank account, Varga blew his top saying nobody can question his policy. He said that he has been assigned in various parishes within the province and this has always been his policy. He claimed to have built churches valued at millions of pesos in places where he was assigned and nobody questioned this policy.

Meanwhile Canonigo, who donated money to the parish even when he was still residing in the United States, claimed to have documented allegations about Varga’s sexual indiscretions. He included these allegations in their petition addressed to Palma, who ordered an investigation. But several months have passed and nothing is moving

Canonigo said they just want to put a period on this issue. If the Archdiocese transfers Varga, they would gladly welcome it. But if they retain him, they will respect the decision. Here’s part of Canonigo’s letter:

“The Archdiocese of Cebu headed by the supposedly rightful and wise Archbishop Jose Palma, is conveniently using the alibi of being too busy preparing for the IEC and has played deaf and dumb tto our complaint. The petition was submitted to Palma in the first week of September through Msgrs. (Rey) Penagunda and (Daniel) Sanico.

“Palma commented on this matter and simply used the infamous ‘personal interest’ reason as the moving force behind this movement to eradicate Fr. Varga from the parish of Simala and not paying attention to the 700 signatures of parishioners from several barrios belonging to the Simala parish.

“How can 700 people have the same common personal interest, especially when this group is spearheaded by prominent professionals (private and in government), including a lawyer, a doctor, several engineers, etc, and financially independent people (so financial interest is totally out of the question). We therefore accuse Palma of mismanagement and of mishandling such a simple and repetitive case (Varga encountered the same in Langtad, Naga and Santander).

“Msgr. Penagunda (per instruction of Palma) did nothing but receive our petition and grant our group a personal meeting at his office last October 19 and also receive the supposed letter-support of the defunct Simala Parish Pastoral Council (abolished by Varga in June) and submit the said documents to Palma who then submitted the case to the Board of Consultors and assigned the case to Msgr. Sanico for further investigation.

“Msgr. Sanico then insisted on staying in his comfortable, air-conditioned office instead of meeting my challenge to either come to Simala and personally confirm our allegations with the complaining parishioners or to grant us a personal meeting with him. He submitted a recommendation to ignore our petition alleging personal interest, something that Palma conveniently chose instead of checking with Msgr. Boy Bataclan, who received tons of complaints against Varga during his assignments in Langtad, Naga and Santander.”

Well, it has been the practice of our leaders to simply ignore complaints against priests. I don’t know if they have seen the implications if the petition is not acted upon. This might cause a big gap between some parishioners and the priest. Dili na manimba ang mga parokyano ug wala nay reseito ngadto sa pari. Delikado kun mobalhin pa og laing tinuhuan. Sulbara ni ninyo uy, sa dili pa mograbe. Amen.

<<< Related posts