HLURB’s response

Ben Contreras .

CHALLENGED by the statements of the Church, the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board responded with an eight-page answer, citing resolved issues seriatim, laws and counter argumentations. Let me take on HLURB’s response to “separation of Church and State”:

“The realm of belief and creed is infinite and limitless, bounded only by one’s imagination and thought. So is freedom of belief, including religious belief, limitless and without bounds. One may believe in most anything, however strange, bizarre and unreasonable the same may appear to others, ever heretical when weighed in the scales of orthodoxy or doctrinal standards. But between the freedom of belief and the exercise of said religious belief, there is quite a stretch of road to travel. If the exercise of said religious belief clashes with the established institutions of society and with the law, then the former must yield and give way to the latter. The government steps in and either restrains said exercise or even prosecutes the one exercising it.”

If this is not clear to the Church, maybe it still wants to assert its make-believe influence over the rest, and it did.

The Church sought relief from the Court of Appeals. A five-page CA resolution, dated Feb. 6, 2018 and concurred by Associate Justices Romulo V. Borja, Walter S. Ong and Tita Marilyn Payoyo-Villardon and released by the CA Clerk of Court Atty. Teresita R. Marigomen, reads in part: “Before the court is a petition for certiorari prohibition, Mandamus and Declaratory Relief (with prayer for TRO and WPI) under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court filed January 4, 2018 by petitioner St. Francis Xavier Parish Church of the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro City, assailing the Cease and Desist Order dated December 6, 2017, issued by public respondent Regional Director of the Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Northern Mindanao Region, and the resolution dated December 20, 2018 denying petitioner’s Urgent Motion to Lift Cease and Desist Order.

“An assiduous perusal of the instant petition constrains this court to dismiss the same outright for prematurity.”

After a lengthy explanation, the resolution ended with, “WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant petition is hereby DISMISSED.”

Attached with the resolution are photos of how the facility of a columbarium would look like. They are colored gold (to signify class and expensiveness?), cabinets that look similar to bank’s safety deposit boxes with a Cross on the front.

Did the Church act in bad faith? It would seem so. The COD was issued Dec. 6, 2017 by the HLURB but the work on the columbarium continued. The homeowners have photos of the place taken in December 2017 and photos of today. The work seemed to have been done in a rush so they may claim that the work is more or less 50 percent completed. But the trick won’t work.

Accordingly, the Church will bring the matter to the Office of the President. Of, really, after issuing several homilies in the past against the presidency of Duterte? Why not try the Pope? There’s a separation of Church and State as you claim, right?

On Feb. 20, 2018, the HLURB issued an Order to St. Francis Xavier Columbarium to “Pay the total amount of Twenty Thousand Pesos (P20,000.00) as Administrative fine for the afore-cited violations.”

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against the Catholic Church. I just hate the hypocrisy of some of those who represent the Church. They are supposed to attend to people’s spiritual needs rather than meddle with State matters, with so much bias.