Altar of Secrets: Sex, Politics, and Money in the Philippine Catholic Church by Aries Rufo

Author:Aries Rufo [Rufo, Aries]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: k'12
Publisher: Journalism for Nation Building Foundation
Published: 2013-06-06T16:00:00+00:00

RAPING THE PARISH

In contrast to Ramos’s case, Mercado was quick to forget and forgive priests who mishandled Church funds.

Kept hidden for six years, Father Bayani Valenzuela’s misappropriation of the St. Andrew’s School funds amounting to P14 million was only known after he was replaced by activist priest Monsignor Manuel Gabriel, who was also considered the Church expert on Basic Ecclesial Communities.

In 1998, while he was director of St. Andrew’s School, Valenzuela forged the signature of the board of directors and invested multimillion-peso school funds with Prime Bank.17 A year later, Prime Bank declared a bank holiday and was placed under the receivership of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. This put the investment in jeopardy.18

In 2004, Valenzuela was replaced by Gabriel, who ordered an internal audit. He was shocked when he learned about the P14 million that vanished into thin air. In an interview, Gabriel said he uncovered more financial irregularities committed by his predecessor. To use the term of a lay leader, Valenzuela “repeatedly raped Church funds.”

With a lifestyle fit for a king, Valenzuela would charge his personal expenses to the school funds—from his gym fees in Shangri-La Hotel in Makati to his massage sessions and meals in expensive restaurants. He also owned a unit at the Cityland Wack Wack Royal Mansion where he was living, as shown by a statement of account that I was provided. He shared the largesse with his relatives, approving, for instance, a vehicle loan for a niece using school funds.19

Valenzuela also charged chancery expenses for utilities like electricity and water, and salaries of janitorial and security services to the school funds, when these should have been charged to the parish. Stipends for saying Masses were also charged to the school. (Priests get fees or stipends for each Mass that they say. The amount depends on each diocese, as determined by the bishop.)

Based on accounts by parish employees, no one exactly knew how much was being collected from Sunday Masses, since all collections were counted inside Valenzuela’s private room. Valenzuela tapped three relatives to act as his trusted aides. He was also found to have maintained five different bank accounts.

Following Prime Bank’s closure, the P500,000 insurance covered by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation was remitted to his personal bank account instead of the school’s.20

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.