THE 12TH DIVISION of the Court of Appeals (CA) has denied the petitions seeking to revive the offending religious feelings case against former UST Secretary General Fr. Winston Cabading, O.P., affirming lower court rulings that dismissed the charges for lack of legal basis.
A 28-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ma. Consejo Mapa Gengos-Ignalaga ruled that neither the original nor the amended information filed against Cabading sufficiently violated Article 133 of the Revised Penal Code, which penalizes acts that are notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful and are performed in a place of worship or during a religious ceremony.
The appellate court agreed with the Quezon City Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 224 that the remarks made by Cabading during a May 2022 public Facebook livestream did not occur “in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of a religious ceremony.”
READ: Court junks offending religious feelings case against former UST SecGen
“The online program … is similar to a show, broadcast, telecast, videocast, performance, or dialogue and does not connote a formal or solemn act prescribed by the ritual or protocol of a religious procedure,” the decision read.
The case stemmed from a complaint by retired Commission on Elections chief and Mary Mediatrix of All Grace devotee Harriet Demetriou, who alleged that Cabading’s remarks on the controversial 1948 Lipa Marian apparition had offended her religious feelings.
The CA affirmed the RTC’s earlier finding that the Facebook program, “Pananampalataya at Katuwiran”—where Cabading appeared as a guest—was not a religious ceremony, but a public discussion accessible to anyone regardless of faith.
The CA also said that what appeared in the information were alleged violations of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ pastoral guidelines and internal Dominican directives, which do not constitute a criminal offense under the penal code.
“The Information and the amended information failed to specifically allege facts constituting the offense of offending religious feelings. What appears in the recitals of facts is the alleged violation of respondent Cabading against the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) pastoral instruction and injunction order of the Dominican province. This act is not punishable under the Revised Penal Code or special penal laws,” the decision added.
The CA also found no “grave abuse of discretion” in the lower court’s ruling.
Cabading, an exorcist priest, has handled several administrative posts of the University, including chair of the UST Faculty of Sacred of Theology’s dogma section, vice rector for religious affairs and secretary general. He is now the rector of the National Shrine of the Most Holy Rosary or Sto. Domingo Church in Quezon City. F
