UECFI PresGen Endorses SO Despite Conviction UECFI President General Florencio Juan Jr. approved Zaccheus Cerezos application as a Solemnizing Officer (SO) in Region 19 (Bukidnon) on May, 2013 despite being convicted of criminal offense, while the 3 other qualified applicants endorsed by the Regional Committee are presumed to be rejected. Zaccheus Cerezo, younger brother of Gaius Cerezo, was charged with Grave Threat with Case# 3168 in the 5th Municipal Trial Court of Pigcawayan, Cotabato under the sala of Judge Alexander B. Yarra. The younger Cerezo was found guilty of the charges filed by his neighbor in connection to land disputes, and he was sentenced with indeterminate penalty -- a minimum of 6 months to a maximum of 3 years imprisonment. He received his conviction and sentence on March, 2011 and filed an application for Probation with the trial court. According to Probation Law (Presidential Decree 968), after the conviction and sentence of the accused, and upon application of the said accused, the court may suspend the execution of said sentence and place the accused on probation for such period and is ordered to follow certain conditions set by the court. Failure to comply with the prescribed conditions means serving the penalty imposed by the court. The court granted Cerezos application, and so he was placed under Probation. Based on the Grounds for Cancellation of Certificate of Registration of the Authority to Solemnize Marriage (CRASM) Cerezo should no longer be qualified as SO, but his application was still endorsed by the President General. Juan signed Cerezos endorsement as SO to National Statistics Office (NSO) on May, 2013, and his license to solemnize marriage was issued on December 17, 2013. The Regional Committee of Region 19 first raised the issue through a letter to the UECFI Board on October, 2013 with supporting documents. Same issue was also brought out during the Leadership Seminar held in Maramag, Bukidnon on November 16, 2013, and Juan promised to issue a memo to NSO to recall Cerezos appointment. Three months have passed, and there was still no order or memo to recall Cerezos appointment as SO. So Joel Areola, DG of Region 19, did a follow up on the issue again to the UECFI Board during the Regular Board Meeting of DGs in Tuba, Benguet last March 8, 2014. But Gaius Cerezo, Acting Director General (DG) of Region 9 (NCR - except the City of Manila, and Rizal Province), came to his brothers defense and pushed for the retention of his status as SO for humanitarian reason and spiritual consideration. The matter was then referred to Committee on Marriage headed by Amado Tabora Sr. (DG of Region 5 - Western Pangasinan), who is also Cerezos ally. Rule #8 of Administrative Order #1 Series of 2007 (Grounds for Cancellation of CRASM) states that the SOs authority to solemnize marriage may be cancelled when the SO has been convicted by final judgment of any crime... (Paragraph 4). Paragraph 16 of the same Rule also states that when the SO does other acts in contravention with law his license (or CRASM) may also be cancelled. Also under Section 45 of RA 3613 (Penalty Provisions in Marriage Law), any priests, ministers (those who solemnize marriages)... convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude shall be disqualified to solemnize marriage for a period of not less than six months nor more than six years at the discretion of the court. If SOs license (or CRASM) is cancelled, he shall no longer be authorized to perform marriage, hence, any marriage performed by that person shall be void (Paragraph 2 Article 80, Civil Code of the Philippines). The younger Cerezo also failed to meet another requirement of UECFI rules in appointing SOs -- that an aspiring SO must be endorsed by ten (10) Local Centers and approved by the Provincial and Regional Committee. Cerezo had no endorsement at all. Meanwhile, the application of the 3 other SO aspirants who were qualified and had no legal impediments was believed to be dismissed because their application has been pending since 2010. Tabora promised to investigate the issue, and to submit his recommendation in the next Board Meeting which will be on April 13, 2014 at the usual venue. The Regional Committee of Region 19 had filed many valid complaints to the UECFI Board, but none of them was acted upon. The TORCH March, 2014
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 02:08:14 +0000
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