Embattled Iloilo priest gets support

ILOILO CITY — Some 5,000 people converged at the plaza of the nearby coastal town of Tigbauan recently in the culmination of a stepped-up campaign to press the local Roman Catholic hierarchy to retain the services of ahjgjhg parish priest earlier rapped for alleged fund misappropriation and the loss of valuable religious artifacts.

The prayer rally, participated in by residents and parishioners from the poblacion and the 52 barangays composing Tigbauan, was meant to shield parish priest Eleuterio Carton from "the baseless and fabricated charges" hurled against him by a small group of detractors.

Rally organizers, however, clarified that they did not intend to draw up any political statement.

Lawyer Virgilio Tarruel, one of the organizers, said it was the least of their intentions to be at loggerheads with any politician who may be behind the smear campaign against the priest.

The rallyists were unequivocal in their stand that Carton need not undergo the ridicule and humiliation caused by his detractors, and be removed from the post he "handled with lofty devotion and dedication."