Cabillon to question dismissal of libel case against Vidal, et al

CEBU, Philippines - Former Marian monk Venancio Cabillon will seek reconsideration on the decision of the provincial prosecutor’s office dismissing the libel case he filed against Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal.

The provincial prosecutors earlier dismissed the complaint against Vidal and three other priests, saying the complaint lacked the essential elements of libel.

Dr. Edwin Fonghe, who has been helping Cabillon out in the case, said Cabillon just received a copy of the resolution and will be filing his motion for reconsideration in the next 15 days.

Cabillon filed the libel case last year against the Cardinal, Fr. Marnell Mejia, Msgr. Cristobal Garcia, and Abelio Manila a.k.a Frater Martin Mary Cabillon after claiming that the August 9, 2009 publication of the “Bag-ong Lungsoranon,” which bore a notice to the public of his disconnection from the church, was allegedly done in bad faith.

The Bag-ong Lungsoranon is the official newsletter of the Archdiocese of Cebu. The newsletter had announced that Cabillon was no longer connected with the Marian Monks of the Eucharistic Adoration since January 8, 2009.

“Any transactions or solicitations of funds bearing the name of the congregation in his behalf is considered illegal and punishable by law,” the newsletter reads.

The newsletter also published the grounds by which Cabillon was disconnected from the congregation, including grave faults against the religious vows of the order, as a trafficker of their members of the religious formation, and violating the vows of chastity and obedience.

Cabillon argued, however, that the notice was defamatory and malicious because aside from the notice of disconnection itself, the newsletter published alleged false grounds of his disconnection from the congregation.

Prosecutors, however, said the notice was not libelous because “it appears nothing more than a simple notice of disconnection of a certain individual from a certain group.”   (FREEMAN NEWS)