Perjury case ex-monk filed against colleagues junked

CEBU, Philippines - The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office has dismissed the perjury complaint filed by ex-monk Venancio Cabillon against his former colleagues at the Marian Monk of the Eucharistic Adoration for lack of jurisdiction over the case.

At the same time, the provincial prosecutors recommended the filing of a case in court against Abelio Mangila also known as Frater Martin Mary in relation to the falsification of private document charges filed against him by Cabillon.

Cabillon was the one who sued Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and three local Church officials for libel and filed the falsification and perjury charges against six of his colleagues at the Marian Monk of the Eucharistic Adoration and three residents of Sibonga town in southern Cebu.

He filed the perjury charges against Renato Ybanez, Mario Mulato, Bonifacio Magtoto, Rene Feliciano, Evert Lloyd Ugay, spouses Francisco and Joan Argoncillo, and Pastora Superable.

In a resolution, prosecutors Ma. Luisa Ong and Jerome Abarca said their office does not have the authority to resolve Cabillon’s complaint since the alleged acts were committed in Leyte, thus, outside its territorial jurisdiction

They, however, said that there is reasonable ground to believe that Mangila committed falsification of private document based on the findings of the handwriting expert.

“To bolster the claim of Cabillon that his signature was forged in the questioned document, he caused a handwriting expert from the PNP Crime Laboratory…when Mangila filed the estafa complaint against Cabillon, he admitted that he was the one who personally wrote the receipt, referring to the note allegedly written by Cabillon in his counter affidavit that he filed,” the resolution reads.

Cabillon filed a falsification charge against Mangila for allegedly forging his signature on a private document from the separate estafa charges he filed.

Cabillon said that it was Mangila’s desperate attempt to divert the issues from the libel case he filed against him.

Cabillon alleged Mangila forged and imitated his signature to make it appear he signed an acknowledgement receipt dated January 9, 2009 of various items and cash from MMEA. — THE FREEMAN