Suspension is Palma’s message to new Kawit village chief

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma yesterday he hasn’t communicated with suspended priest Oscar Banzon yet since the latter was elected barangay captain of Kawit, Medellin, north Cebu.

“Let’s wait what he wants to say when he visits me. So far, we have not talked nor communicated through the phone after the elections,” Palma told reporters yesterday.

Asked if he had asked the parish priest of Kawit to look into Banzon’s case, the Cebu prelate said no.

“No, I don’t have any instruction. The suspension itself is already the main message,” said Palma, who is presently the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Palma earlier suspended Banzon after he filed his COC before the Commission on Elections in Medellin town last Oct. 16.

Under the Canon Law, any priest who files a COC shall be suspended automatically of his priestly duties and functions.

This means, the priest could not celebrate the sacraments which include saying Mass, hearing confessions, and solemnizing marriages.

Banzon earlier asked permission for him to transfer to an archdiocese in the U.S.

But Palma said Banzon was not accepted by the US archdiocese.