Priest’s arraignment set for offending religious feelings

MANILA, Philippines — A Quezon City court has set the arraignment of exorcist Fr. Winston Cabading on the charge of offending religious feelings.

A staffer at the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 said in a phone interview yesterday that the arraignment of Cabading, a parish priest at the Archdiocese of Manila Office of Exorcism, is scheduled on June 1 at around 8:30 a.m.

The case against the 57-year-old Cabading is based on the complaint of former Commission on Elections chief Harriet Demetriou.

Demetriou, a devotee of the Our Lady of Mary Mediatrix of All Grace, accused Cabading of being a “rabid critic” of Mary.

Branch 81 Judge Madonna Echiverri on May 8 issued a warrant for Cabading’s arrest.

The court staffer said Cabading posted a bail bond of P18,000 last week after he was arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) at the St. Mary Magdalene House in Barangay Kaylaway in Nasugbu, Batangas on May 13 at around 10:10 p.m.

Based on information obtained by the CIDG, Cabading allegedly mocked reports of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary at a conference in Lipa City.

In her complaint, Demetriou said the Mediatrix of All Grace is a Marian apparition that took place in the Carmelite monastery of Lipa sometime in 1948.