Angry priest hit woman over destroyed padlock

A woman who forced open the gate of a church compound to clean up a burger station accused the parish priest of  Saint Vincent Ferrer Parish in Dumanjug town, south Cebu,  of knocking her head and grabbing her hair when he found out that she had destroyed the padlock.

Teresita “Timtim” Sambrana, 37,  an employee  of Big Mac Burger Machine,  said she entered the compound  at 6 a.m. on Wednesday with her manager  to get some stocks and clean up the stall.

The church caretaker wasn’t around, so the female employee destroyed the gate’s padlock to get inside.

While she was cleaning the premises at 6:45 a.m., she said Fr. William Ybañez angrily approached her.  She said the 51-year-old priest knocked her on the head with a closed fist and grabbed her hair.

Sambrana and the manager went  to the police station to report the incident.

Fr. Ybañez followed soon after and filed a complaint of malicious mischief against the woman for destroying the padlock.  The employee and her boss promised to replace the padlock but the priest wasn’t mollified.

PO3 Rafael Albero Jr., desk officer of the Dumanjug Police, said the dispute was endorsed to the  “lupon” or barangay justice system to explore mediation fist.

He said police would  wait for Sambrana to submit a medical certificate to support a  complaint for physical injuries.
Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu, said the Office of the Archbishop has not yet received a formal report about the incident.

He said the archdiocese has yet to get to the bottom of the issue, but reminded priests to exercise extra caution in their dealings with other people.

“Especially under Pope Francis’ watch, we, priests, are called to be people’s priests. We need to practice pastoral charity at all times,” Tan said.

While priests, like other human beings, also commit mistakes, Tan said resorting to violence is never an option.

“But if the accusations are true, I have to immediately apologize in behalf of the local church. We do not condone priests who commit anything like this,” Tan told CDN over the phone yesterday.

Tan, nonetheless, urged the public, particularly parishioners of San Vicente Ferrer Parish in barangay Bitoon, Dumanjug town not to judge Fr. Ybañez.

“We pray for understanding on the part of his parishioners. Please do what you can to help him,” he said.