Ercilla: An aspiring cop who shocked Misor

(First of two series)

EVERY time Cresanto Ercilla would start a beat by slowly stomping his right foot and opening his mouth for a worship song, the older members of the family would right away follow after him.

At the young age of 20-year-old, the five-foot-six athlete-looking Cresanto firmly believed that he is destined to be a leader in the mold of the late Divine Master Tomas Eugenio Sr, the founding head of the Philippine Benevolent Christian Missionaries Association of Mercy, Incorporated (PBCM) based in Jasaan town, Misamis Oriental.

In fact, Cresanto was able to convince his closely-knitted relatives that Eugenio’s spirit was with him he could order anything ― unmolested ― including the killing of his grandmother Teofila Camongay Cabusas in ritual flames to supposedly purge her of her great sins that horrified the pre-dominantly Catholic nation.

“His relatives and friends who are much older than him would turn meek and submissive even if Cresanto would occasionally beat them. They could not just resist his power,” said police staff sergeant Robert John Galdo after he accompanied the eleven ritual killing suspects in the court proceedings in Cagayan de Oro last Thursday morning.

Parricide charges were filed against them before the Provincial Prosecutor’s Office with Erlinda Cabusas, Cresant’’s aunt who did not participate in the ritual killing, standing as the main complainant and her 20-year-old son Jonathan as the primary witness.

Erlinda, whose family lives in nearby sitio Bagaay, and his son, would visit the biggest bunch of relatives in the clan ― every now and then ― in the upland sitio Palipi of barangay Baliwagan, Balingasag, Misamis Oriental where they settled down.

As Cresanto presided over seemingly endless nights of prayer rituals and dances around burning flames that they ignored eating, police investigator Galdo said Erlinda had already sensed something wrong in their minds.

Cresanto’s so-called servants would do lengthy push-ups if he want to without any complaint even though Cresanto is the youngest of them all.

“She regretted that she was a bit late in reporting the matter to their village chief. Erlinda said it could not happen had she was not hesitant in doing it right away,” Galdo said.

Erlinda was bothered when his sisters, brother, nephews, nieces, and their friends would collect unusable clothing, dry wood, and anything around to pick and throw in the fire saying they were unclean and a source of negative vibes.

Around 3 am on August 26, Galdo said Jonathan who slept early was awakened by Cresanto, telling him to watch what had been happening to their Lola.

At that time, Cresanto’s uncle Nicolas, brother Romeo and cousin Charlie had already thrown the aging woman on fire upon the command of their self-proclaimed master/general. And when she struggled to get out from the blaze, with her body trembling and grimacing in pain, Jonathan narrated to the police that they forced the still alive Teofila to dance.

Later when she stumbled to catch her breath, they then washed her with water as if the final ritual part to clean or purify her from sins.

It was at this juncture that some neighbors interrupted rushing to the scene and brought the victim to Balingasag town hospital where she died from third-degree burns.

“Jonathan was helpless he could not complain or else Cresanto would order to also throw him on fire,” said Galdo, who along with other responding policemen, have still seen Cresanto’s pack hoisting the photograph of the late Divine Master Eugenio before their arrest.

Galdo said it was the 75-year-old Teofila (mistakenly recorded earlier as 84 in the sketchy police blotter) who first held Eugenio’s picture dearly as she was a PBCM faithful and loyal Tomas follower.

Her failure to acknowledge Cresanto’s authority as the new leader of the pack had irked her virtually evil-possessed apo (Cresanto), said Balingasag town police chief Teodoro De Oro, quoting Charlie Cabusas.

Looking back, the Balingasag cops portrayed the Ercillas and Cabusas families as good clean-living people who have no record of atrocity.

A promising Criminology student who wished to become a cop, Galdo said the clean-looking Cresanto who always dresses up like a model is well-known to her friends and former high school classmates as a nice guy and a valuable person.

“Pagka sayang sa imong pagka buotan sa una Cresanto,” one friend wrote on his Facebook page.

Galdo said you can’t hear anything bad against Cresanto’s family until their religious worship transcended to the extreme level.

“They kept on chanting disturbing Latin words that we can’t understand. Their religious belief practically made them insane. And it is not drug-related as intelligence report did not identify them as one,” Galdo said.