By Delfin Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon Bureau
Inquirer News Service
LUCENA CITY-Police arrested 14 cult members for illegally building structures on Mt. Banahaw, a protected area. The arrested cult members were identified as Bienvenido Nombres, Pedro Precilla, Anacleto Pia, Crisanto Mina, Cresencio Pantoja, Noli Andal, Aniano Comia, Cesar Andal, Eugenio Pades, Josephine Tolosa, Consolocion Pades, Enriqua Ponsal, Rommel de la Torre, and Erick Dimaano. They are members of the Banahaw-based cult Suprema de la Iglesia de la Ciudad Mistica de Dios (Mistica) based in Barangay Sta. Lucia in Dolores, Quezon.
Sally Pangan, park area supervisor of the Mt. Banahaw-San Cristobal Protected Landscape Area, filed a complaint at the municipal trial court of Dolores accusing the 14 of violating the National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act of 1992 or Nipas. Based on a video made by Jay Lim, community coordinator of Tanggol Kalikasan-Southern Luzon, an environmental legal defense center, government authorities caught the suspects in the act of putting up the additional portion of a concrete structure at the entrance of Kuweba ng Diyos Ama (Cave of God the Father), one of the cult's spots on the mountain.
"It seemed that they still acted as the owners of the structures because they never stopped working on it despite the fact that it was no longer under their concern," Lim said. Sacks of sand, aggregates, bags of cement, steel bars and piles of tegula roofing materials were scattered around the construction site. Lim said the construction materials were hauled atop the mountain site with the use of ropes and pulleys. At the police station, Isabel Suarez, the recognized leader of Mistica and referred to by its members as "Suprema," admitted responsibility for the construction work.
She appealed to Insp. Fernando Reyes III, Dolores police station chief, to release the suspects under her custody but the police denied the request. It was learned that several hours later, all the cult members were released after posting P6,000 bail each.
In 1998, Mistica constructed the concrete building, which according to the religious sect, would serve as a common resting place and restroom for all mountain pilgrims. But the Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered the religious cult to stop the construction.
About Tanggol Kalikasan
- Tanggol Kalikasan
- (Defense of Nature) is a non-stock, non-profit and non-governmental organization doing public interest lawyering in the Philippines. It has operated as an environmental law office for 17 years already. Tanggol works with national and international partners and networks and has its main office in Quezon City. It also maintains fully-staffed area offices in Alaminos City, Pangasinan (Northern Luzon Office) and Lucena City (Southern Luzon Office) and field offices in Lipa City and Baao, Camarines Sur.