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Calls to revoke religious feelings offense renewed after case vs. priest

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Raffy Cabristante, ABS-CBN News

<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2635169" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>MANILA — A framer of the 1987 Constitution on Tuesday renewed calls to revoke the law on &quot;offending religious feelings&quot; after court charges were filed against Fr. Winston Cabading on the alleged crime, describing the provision as &quot;unconstitutional.&quot; Lawyer Christian Monsod told ANC that the said provision was &quot;too overbroad&quot; and was a &quot;throwback to the age of Church intolerance and oppression&quot; prevalent during the Spanish colonial era.Cabading, a Dominican priest, is facing charges of offending religious feelings filed by former Comelec chairperson and Sandiganbayan judge Harriet Demetriou. The case stemmed from a statement Cabading made in a 2020 online show where he rejected the alleged Marian apparition in Lipa, Batangas in 1948.Under Section 133 of the Revised Penal Code, performing acts &quot;notoriously offensive to the feelings of the faithful&quot; is considered a crime, provided that it was done &quot;in a place devoted to religious worship or during the celebration of any religious ceremony.&quot;&quot;My understanding is he made these statements in an online interview. It was not in a religious place or in an occasion of a religious service,&quot; Monsod said.&quot;It seems to me that the Church itself, the bishops and the laity did not think that he was guilty under [Section] 133. It&#x27;s only Justice Demetriou who seems to have been offended,&quot; he added.Citing a similar case in 1939, Monsod said that there should be &quot;an unbiased judicial criteria in determining whether a crime was committed.&quot;&quot;It&#x27;s so broad. Anybody can just go there and say &#x27;I was offended.&#x27; It&#x27;s a subjective issue and therefore it should be unconstitutional,&quot; Monsod further told ANC.Calls to abolish the provision on religious feelings were last made in 2019, when then-Senator Leila de Lima filed a measure to repeal it from the Revised Penal Code. A year prior, tour guide and activist Carlos Celdran was convicted of violating the provision for his 2010 &quot;Damaso stunt.&quot;<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/08/10/18/carlos-celdran-jail-time-over-damaso-protest-will-be-worth-it">Carlos Celdran: Jail time over &#x27;Damaso&#x27; protest will be worth it</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/nation/metro-manila/10/01/10/celdran-no-regrets-damaso-protest">Celdran: No regrets for &#x27;Damaso&#x27; protest</a></li></ul>A group of Catholic exorcists, the Philippine Association of Catholic Exorcists (PACE), earlier expressed support for Cabading. In a statement, PACE said Cabading only answered questions on the 1948 alleged apparition, noting that he was only citing earlier Church verdicts that the incident was &quot;not supernatural in character and origin, that is, not from God and hence, not worthy of belief.&quot;&quot;We therefore stand with Fr. Winston Cabading OP in his obedience and union with the Pope and the Philippine Bishops of the Catholic Church with regards to this issue,&quot; the group added.

The case stemmed from a statement Cabading made in a 2020 online show where he rejected the alleged Marian apparition in Lipa, Batangas in 1948.

Calls to revoke religious feelings offense renewed after case vs. priest

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Calls to revoke religious feelings offense renewed after case vs. priest

Raffy Cabristante,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 30, 2023 10:17 PM PHT

Read More:

Winston Cabading

offending religious feelings

Revised Penal Code

Harriet Demetriou

Catholic Church

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