No word from Bactol!

Easter Greetings to our readers of the MBPH Blogs! May the Risen Christ grow in your hearts….

Sorry for not writing, all of us have been so very busy. There was a MBPH Brother meeting in Seattle in the month of March. Interesting conversations!

There has been so much travel - so little time, with so much to do…

We are still waiting for Bishop Bactol to do a formal denial of the charges we have placed. In Brother Steve’s sworn statement.

Canon Law states:

Can. 1368 A person who commits perjury while asserting or promising something before ecclesiastical authority is to be punished with a just penalty. Can. 1369 A person who in a public show or speech, in published writing, or in other uses of the instruments of social communication utters blasphemy, gravely injures good morals, expresses insults, or excites hatred or contempt against religion or the Church is to be punished with a just penalty.

And again it says: THE CRIME OF FALSEHOOD (Cann. 1390 - 1391)

Can. 1390 §1. A person who falsely denounces before an ecclesiastical superior a confessor for the delict mentioned in Can. 1387 incurs a latae sententiae interdict and, if he is a cleric, also a suspension.
§2. A person who offers an ecclesiastical superior any other calumnious denunciation of a delict or who otherwise injures the good reputation of another can be punished with a just penalty, not excluding a censure.
§3. A calumniator can also be forced to make suitable reparation.
Can. 1391 The following can be punished with a just penalty according to the gravity of the delict:
1/ a person who produces a false public ecclesiastical document, who changes, destroys, or conceals an authentic one, or who uses a false or altered one;
2/ a person who uses another false or altered document in an ecclesiastical matter;
3/ a person who asserts a falsehood in a public ecclesiastical document.

But according to ABS-CBN, “Bactol will not go any further and charge Brother Steve” with offenses against the Church. The reason to us is easy: Bactol would have to defend himself before Church authorities. As Brother Steve said “ I have and will continue to stand behind my sworn statement which was sworn and witnessed under penalty of Church Law before a diocesan bishop".


We challenge Most Rev. Filomeno G. Bactol, Bishop of Naval to charge Brother Steve with offenses against Church Law or resign as Bishop of the Diocese of Naval.

Reminder of Canon Law:

Can. 401 §2 A diocesan bishop who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause is earnestly requested to present his resignation from office.

To the readers of the Biliranisland.com Blog:

It is good to see the support of the people of the Diocese of Naval for their Church. May God continue to Bless them with His heavenly grace.

Bishop Filomeno Bactol needs to make formal the denunciation of the charges that Brother Stephen M. Greinke, MBPH has placed:: If the sworn statement that Brother Stephen submitted to the Holy See (Vatican) is false, Bishop Bactol must refute these charges and formally charge Brother Stephen with making false statements under the code of canon law of the Catholic Church. Otherwise without a formal censure, from the Church for making false statements, the Church has given it consent to the authenticity of the charges he has submitted.

Further more; the “mother congregation’ ( Redemptorists) from the General Government in Rome or the Provincial Government in the USA have never commented on the mental health of Brother Stephen or other related issues regarding Brother. Therefore the information of Bishop Bactol has given to the media is without merit.

As to this statement from the Clergy of the Diocese of Naval:

“While in the United States, Greinke wrote letters accusing the Bishop and the clergy of wrongdoings, maligning their good names. One such letter was addressed to late Holy Father John Paul 11. Because of this, a Visitation and Investigation was made on the Clergy and the Bishop of Naval by the Most Rev. Jose S. Palma, D.D., the bishop of Calbayog. Then, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palo, Most Rev, Pedro R an, Jr., D.D., also conducted his own investigation (the Bishop of Naval being his sufragan) and refuted point for point the accusations hurled by Greinke against the bishop and the Clergy of Naval.”

If these two Bishops are going to conduct an investigation - would you not first make contact with the person(s) who made the charges and get detailed information on the charges. (evidences, sworn statements etc…) There has been no contact with MBPH Brothers or Brother Stephen of any kind contact during their so-called investigations made by these two Bishops!

Again we await to hear if Bishop Bactol makes a formal censure of Brother Stephen Greinke!

Integrity of Filomno Bactol?

A banner outside the Naval, Biliran, Cathedral - voicing support for Bishop Bactol against the charges that Brother Steve Greinke placed against the Bishop!

Imelda Marcos Factor

According to Canon Law of the Catholic Church the Discipline of a Bishop is reserved to the Supreme Pontiff. The Nuncio represents the Holy See (Holy Father) to the Philippines. But all information concerning the behavior of a Bishop is transmitted to the Holy through the Papal Nuncio. CBCP has no authority to discipline a fellow bishop, but can refer a problem to the Holy See through the Papal Nuncio. - This information was also communicated to us by letter through the former President of the CBCP - Archbishop Quevedo. Archbishop Quevedo ask the Nuncio to investagte Bishop Filomeno Bactol, Bishop of Naval.

Bishop Bactol has strong political relations with the former first lady Imelda Marcos (Imelda’s Bishop). Imelda was the person who recommended to the Holy See that Bactol be made Bishop. The Marcos Family have donated much to the Vatican over all these years. So before the investigation can get anywhere the Marocs factor needs to be overcomed.

Nuncio Archbishop Adams (an American) will need to put into practice what he has learned from the mistakes of the sexual abuse cases in the USA. CBCP knows that Filomeno G. Bactol has sexual problems with youth below the age of 16. So what will break first, good donations or cleaning up moral problems in the Diocese of Naval, Biliran.

With the resent resignations (asked to resign). of two Philippines Bishops, Bishop Nestor Carino of Legazpi on November 7,2007 and Bishop Jesus Cabrera of Alaminos , July 2, 2007. Maybe Rome is trying to clean things up!

Letter From Cardinal Rosales

Letter from Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila concerning Bishop Filomeno Bactol, Bishop of Naval, Biliran and the Sexual Abuse Charges

No tolerance to 'misbehaving priests', Cardinal says

MANILA, 01 October 2007— A ranking Catholic Church official has called on the faithful to come forward and report errant priests.
Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales who heads the Commission on Clergy of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said “misbehaving” priests deserve serious action.
“Parishioners can report them (misbehaving priests) to whoever next in line. (He) can be the bishop or the monsignor,” said Rosales, who is also the Archbishop of Manila.
He vowed they would give due attention to any report and would do further action especially if a case merit further probe.
In his pastoral jurisdiction, for instance, Rosales said that whenever they receive a complaint about a priest, they listen to it and then conduct an investigation.
"We call the person involved." Rosales said. When the complaint is grave, they ask the priest to "reconsider his vocation," he said.
But the prelate described as rare situation when some priests are reported for scandals and when they do, “there’s a good chance that the complaints are true,” he said.
“Except when there are intrigues, it’s usually true when the report comes from lay people,” he also said.
The cardinal is grateful contentious matter involving local priests is not very common unlike in other countries.

A LETTER TO CARDINAL ROSALES:

Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales
Archbishop of Manila
121 Arzobispo St., Intramuros,
P.O. Box 132, 1099
Manila, Philippines


Dear Cardinal Rosales,

Greetings in the Lord.

I am forwarding my sworn statement concerning Most Rev. Filomeno G. Bactol, Bishop of Naval and the Clergy of the Diocese of Naval.

You have vowed that due attention to any report and would further action especially if a case merit further probe.

I have other statements and other material to back an investigation into this matter.

I look forward hearing from you on this subject, since you made it clear that investigations would be conducted!

Hope to hear from you soon,

I remain,



Sincerely yours in Christ, &
Our Mother of Perpetual Help,



(Bro) Stephen M. Greinke, MBPH
Superior / President

The Bishop and His Lady Imelda....

Abuse and Corruption meet - Bishop Bactol of the Diocese of Naval and Former First Lady Imelda Marcos. This explains much in view of Philippine History. - The Edsa Anniversary this last week and the Church has two faces - one pro the other against.

Special Treatment for Bishop Bactol

BILECOs letter of apology to Msgr Bactol

October 16, 20068:30 a.m.
MOST REV. FILOMENO G. BACTOL Bishop,
Diocese of Naval Naval, Biliran

Dear Monsignor Bactol:
We deeply regret the occurrence of the 1 hour and 20 minutes power outage last night due to busted sub-station protections attributable mainly to an equipment failure particularly the tripping off of a 25 KVA distribution transformer connected to our primary distribution line in Biliran Poblacion, Biliran, Biliran.

Said incident have affected the entire Feeder 1 (Biliran-Naval-Almeria-Kawayan-Culaba Backbone Line). For the immediate restoration of power services in the entire feeder, our Technical Services Department (TSD) have immediately dispatched two crews from our main office to conduct isolation of the affected transformer before conducting manual closing of our medium voltage protection at the Biliran 5 MVA Power Sub-Station.Our apologies for the inconvenience brought about by said incident.

Truly yours,(Sgd)
MARLON B. ROA
General Manager


BiliranIsland.com Newbie

Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Bahrain
Posts: 1

Customer first!
(Hope to be applied to everybody though)
Nice gesture from Bileco management.
I wish, though, nga this kind of concern for Msgr Bactol (as a customer) will be applied to everybody. I mean and I hope, should such power blackouts happen they should endeavor to restore the service and at the same time reach out to their customers (perhaps through the brgy captains, for example) to express their concern against service failure. They do it to Msgr Bactol might as well do it to everybody.