NBI to question priest on ivory trade

MANILA, Philippines - The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) will question a Roman Catholic priest about ivory smuggling after his collection of ivory religious icons was featured in National Geographic magazine, an official said Wednesday.

Monsignor Cristobal Garcia, who rose to prominence in Cebu despite a US sex abuse case in the 1980s for which he was suspended by the Vatican just this year, is quoted in the October issue of the magazine as describing how to bring ivory figurines into the United States.

Sixto Comia, who heads the NBI’s environment and wildlife protection investigation division, said Wednesday that authorities are investigating the origin of ivory icons, but declined to give details.

An international ban on trade in ivory and elephant tusks has been in effect since 1990, but poaching for the black market is rife and endangering elephant populations.

Customs officials have intercepted more than 10,000 kilos of elephant tusks in two separate smuggling attempts in 2005 and 2009.

In a related development, Comia said a manhunt has been launched for Medardo Medel Eduarte, alias Medardo Medel, acting park superintendent of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Center in Quezon City.

Eduarte was charged with qualified theft after part of the 4,000 kilos from the 2009 shipment was stolen from the center in 2010. Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 104 Judge Catherine Manodon recommended no bail for Eduarte.

Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, said Garcia should be given a “fair and just hearing.”

“The church does not condone ivory smuggling or other illegal activities, although in the past, ivory was one of the materials used in the adornment of liturgical worship,” he said.

Garcia, who is based in Talisay City in Cebu province, is reportedly ill and in a hospital.

He was expelled from the Dominican order in 1986 after he allegedly sexually abused an altar boy in Los Angeles. He remains a priest but Palma said Garcia’s “past” case is being investigated by the Vatican.

In the Philippines’ Archdiocese of Cebu, Garcia founded the Society of the Angel of Peace and is chairman of the Archdiocesan Commission on Worship.

Monsignor Achilles Dakay, spokesman for the Cebu Archdiocese, said the Vatican suspended Garcia from his “ministerial duties” in June and removed him as chairman of the Commission on Worship in connection with the sex abuse case in the United States, before the issue of his ivory collection came out. Garcia cannot say Mass or hear confession, he added.

He said it was unclear why the Vatican took action against Garcia only this year. “We would like to know who initiated this in the Vatican level because this was supposed to be closed already,” he said.

Dakay also said the church will cooperate with authorities if they decide to file a case in court against Garcia and the church’s committee on cultural heritage will help in the inventory of his ivory collection to determine which items were obtained after the international ban.– AP