The parliament issued a summons to the Soccorro Bayanihan Services Inc., based in Surigao province in Mindanao region, last Thursday. The group faced the hearing scheduled for September 28.
The Soccorro Bayanihan Services Inc., an alleged religious cult, is said to be based in a heavily guarded mountainous area in Mindanao of southern Philippines. (File Photo: AFP)
The group’s leader, Jey Rence Quilario, who is accused of building a private army, was detained after the Senate hearing. The alleged crimes came to light after Senator Risa Hontiveros recently revealed about the existence of the “cult” in an enclosed and heavily guarded area in Sitio Kapihan, a mountainous portion of Socorro town.
Some former members reported about its crimes. Media reports say the organization has at least 3,500 members, including 1,580 children. Quilario, also known as “Senyor Aguila” or Mr. Eagle, allegedly claims to be the “messiah” or the reincarnation of Jesus.
Pope Francis has named two bishops from mainland China as members of the upcoming assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome.
Bishop Joseph Yang Yongqiang of Zhoucun has served as vice president of the government-related Council of Chinese Bishops, and Bishop Anthony Yao Shun of Jining is the first bishop ordained after the Vatican and China signed a provisional agreement on the nomination of bishops in 2018. They will be among the 365 synod members to attend the Oct. 4-19 meeting.
Pope Francis (center) celebrates a closing Mass at the end of the Synod of Bishops at the Saint Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Oct. 28, 2018. (Photo: AFP)
Earlier, the pope named Cardinal-designate Stephen Chow Sau-Yan of Hong Kong as a member, but no bishop from the Chinese mainland was included.
China expert Belgian Scheut missionary Father Jeroom Heyndrickx said the pope’s decision to include the Chinese bishops show positive results of the Sino-Vatican deal despite the dialogue between Beijing and Rome not progressing as desired.
Hong Kong’s Beijing-controlled government has condemned demands made by a forum of overseas rights groups against the legal actions against pro-democracy supporter Jimmy Lai, on his 1,000th day in custody.
The Washington DC-based rights group, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, issued a letter on Monday with signature of around 67 other rights groups, urging US President Joe Biden to call upon Hong Kong for the “immediate and unconditional release” of Lai.
Millionaire media tycoon Jimmy Lai poses during an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong, a month before he was arrested on Aug. 10 under Beijing’s new national security law. (Photo: AFP / UCAN files)
In statement on Tuesday, the Hong Kong government said remarks by various organizations and media against the law enforcement actions and legal proceedings linked to Lai are “misleading and slanderous” and an interference in the internal affairs of Hong Kong.
Lai who is a Catholic and the founder of the now-defunct pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, was first arrested under the national security law on suspicion of “colluding with foreign forces” in August 2020. He was further accused of fraud and formally charged in December 2020. Lai was convicted and jailed for five years and nine months for fraud last December.
Catholic leaders in Cambodia say the ordination of four new native priests in little over a month are signs of hope and growth of the tiny Church in the Buddhist-majority nation.
French missionary Bishop Olivier Schmitthaeusler, the Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, ordained three diocesan priests at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in the national capital, last Saturday.
Father Damo Martin Chour is the first Jesuit priest from Cambodia. He is among the four new priests ordained in the country since August. (Photo: Jesuit Conference of Asia Pacific)
Hundreds of Catholics from across the country attended the ceremony marked by traditional culture, including music and costumes. This came after the ordination of the first native Jesuit priest, Father Damo Martin Chour, on Aug. 19.
Catholic Church in Cambodia has about 20,000 members, 14 native priests and about 100 missionary priests and religious based in 80 parishes. Christians make up less than one percent of the nation’s more than 16 million people. The Church almost withered during Cambodia’s deadly civil war but revived after the missionaries returned in the 1990s.
The Unification Church of Japan has deplored a TV program aired by state broadcaster NHK as defamatory and demanded its cancellation. The church issued a protest note asking NHK to immediately halt the show ‘Kikenna Sasayaki,’ or Dangerous Whispers, claiming it has caused “serious damages” to its reputation.
The program’s previous title ‘Akuma no Sasayaki’ translated into The Devil’s Whispers, was changed following the protest. The church also demanded a formal apology for using “insulting” phrases.
Members of the Unification Church attend a rally in Seoul on Aug. 18, 2022, to protest against the media coverage the group received in Japan following the assassination in early July of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)
The show includes a dramatization of past attempts to recruit believers for the Unification Church; including hiding the group’s name and door-to-door sales tactics disguised as charitable activities.
The controversial church came under the spotlight and criticism following the assassination of former premier Shinzo Abe on July 8 last year.
Abe was shot by Tetsuya Yamagami who reportedly told investigators he had a grudge against the former PM for his ties to the Unification Church. His mother reportedly donated 100 million yen or 720,000 US Dollars, a parcel of land and their house, to the church that devastated the family.