Clergyman to forgive thief, but…

SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Even among clergymen, forgiveness has its limits.

Thirty-year-old Tirso Mendoza whose alias "Boy Pisamban" (pisamban means church in Capampangan) seems to reflect some fetish for crimes against clergymen, learned this the hard way after he was jailed anew recently for stealing a pair of Nike rubber shoes worth about P10,000 belonging to Aglipayan Pastor Antonio Paras at the latter’s residence in Barangay Dolores here.

Only last August, Mendoza, a jobless resident of Barangay Quebiawan, was released from the city jail here after Fr. Rafael de la Cruz, parish priest of Barangay Telabastagan and member of the Among Band (a musical band composed of Capampangan priests) forgave him for allegedly stealing from his chapel a Behrienger equalizer used by the band, a Walkman, a Nokia 3210 cell phone, and, again, a pair of Nike shoes.

But later, Mendoza was identified again as the one who stole a talking Mynah bird from the Mother of Good Counsel Seminary in Barangay del Pilar here.

Police said Msgr. Ricardo Serrano noted that the mynah bird disappeared from the seminary last Saturday. The following day, the monsignor’s friend Avelino Manalang, 42, mentioned that someone had sold him a Mynah bird for P1,000. This aroused the interest of the two friends who decided to take along with them seminary bird caretaker Tony Tiamson or "Mang Tony" to the residence of Manalang’s sister-in-law in Barangay San Nicolas where the bird was brought.

"Good morning, Mang Tony," the mynah immediately blurted upon the arrival of the monsignor’s party. That led to yet another theft charge against Mendoza.

In the case of Pastor Paras, there was no doubt Mendoza was the culprit, since the pastor caught him in the act, as he sought immediately the help of traffic enforcers nearby to arrest him.

Fr. De la Cruz was quoted by the local paper SunStar-Pampanga as saying that, "while I preach forgiveness, there is also the law (against theft)."

He said that while he had asked that Mendoza be released from jail after four weeks of stay there, he is now contemplating pursuing the theft charges against him after learning about the other cases so as "to cut off his sinful habits".

For his part, Mendoza was reported to have vowed never to steal again, and pleaded to his churchmen victims to forgive him anew.