Santander priest to face charges for child abuse

Charges for child abuse will be filed against Santander town parish priest Fr. Jovencio Rabusa by the parents of the altar boy he allegedly hit for giving him the wrong booklet during the Mass last Sunday.

SPO1 Manuel Regulacion, the father of the 13-year-old altar boy, said that he would file the charges any time next week to teach Rabusa a lesson. Regulacion said he is now preparing the affidavit and is looking for witnesses to the incident.

In an interview over dyLA, he said that Rabusa came to their house and asked for forgiveness.

However, Regulacion said that he was willing to forgive Rabusa but he still wanted to see the priest in court. "Kadaghan na man gud na niya gibuhat. Ako nang padayonon ang pag-file og kaso aron maleksiyon."

In an interview, Rabusa confessed of having a bad temper but refused to admit that he smacked the boy, saying that he just placed two fingers over the boy's lips in a gesture of admonition for the teenager's mistake.

But Regulacion insisted that Rabusa smacked his son because the boy's lower lip was swollen.

Cebu Archdiocesan Media Liaison Officer Msgr. Achilles Dakay, on the other hand, said that there is no need to investigate Rabusa over the incident as the parish priest had already asked forgiveness from the boy's family and Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

"Angayan nga buhaton ana is maymayan aron dili na mautro," he said.

Rabusa allegedly got irked and smacked the boy around 9:00 a.m. for giving him the wrong "ambahan" booklet during the Mass. - Jasmin R. Uy