Priest fumes over delayed wages for church workers

LOON, BOHOL, Philippines - —  Even if the wages of workers were already settled last week, Rev. Fr. Joel Ruyeras, parish priest of this town, did not hide his disgust over the delay of the pay for church workers clearing the debris of churches destroyed by the 7.2-magnitude earthquake last year.

Ruyeras told Charlemagne Tantingco, branch manager of the National Museum-Bohol and coordinator of the Bohol Heritage Task Force, that he was dismayed by the failure of the National Museum and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts  in honoring its commitment to pay the workers on time.

He said it could have been the parish, which provides manpower for clearing the church debris, shouldered the wages obligation to the workers, but the National Museum and the NCAA failed to pay on time the workers' two-month wages.

This delay in paying the wages of the workers resulted in the stoppage of the works, causing further delay in the clearing works, according to workers' foreman Dado Gudon Jr.

Gudon said the arduous works in this town's church ruins would take more than a year or two, and his group are now considering in requesting for heavy equipment for the lifting of the centuries-old heavy hardwood and limestone ruins of the church to speed up the job.

Tantingco, for her part, told The Freeman that it was not the fault of the National Museum because the funds came from the NCAA. The National Museum should not be blamed for the delay because its role was only to coordinate and supervise the clearing works on the church ruins, she said.

The next round of clearing works in various church destroyed by the tremor will start after the Holy Week, said Tantingco. Only the clearing job at the church in Cortes town has so far been completed, leaving only the documentation of the priceless religious icons and limestone the task to be done as part of the reconstruction processes, she said.

Meanwhile, Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso told The Freeman that the diocese has been setting up safety measures to deter thievery of the priceless religious icons. These statues made of precious materials in different churches are now kept at make-shift stockrooms. (FREEMAN)