Yalung to leave church to care for children — lover

Former Antipolo bishop Crisostomo Yalung might leave the Catholic Church in five years to take care of his two daughters, his confessed lover said yesterday.

Cristine Rances, 26, who claims to have bore the 49-year-old Yalung’s two daughters, said she last talked with the bishop, who now works in the Vatican Library, two months ago.

"He (Yalung) said he will take his children with him," she told The STAR in a telephone interview. "He is willing to take care of us but he just wants a little more time to serve the Catholic Church."

Rances said she would seek the baptism in Catholic rites of her two daughters with Yalung, the eldest of whom is now more than a year old.

"It will be next month," she said.

She has asked Monsignor Nicanor Bautista, an outspoken critic of the Catholic Church, to baptize the children "at his parish," Rances added.

Bautista, a board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB), no longer heads any parish.

Rances’s daughter Christian Alexandra, who was born by Caesarian section last week, will be baptized along with her one-year-old sister Christian Guadalupe.

It was the birth of Christian Guadalupe, whom Yalung reportedly confirmed as his child, that caused him to resign as bishop of Antipolo.

Earlier, the Apostolic Nunciature volunteered to shoulder about P100,000 in hospital bills which Rances incurred when she gave birth to her second daughter.

"It is really good to know that the Catholic Church is helping me with my expenses," Rances said in the interview.

A check with the hospital showed that a Caesarian operation alone costs P50,000, while the obstetrician-gynecologist reportedly charges P25,000. — Jose Aravilla