“Since
many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers,
from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one
of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one
of you is a child of God.” Pope Francis
By
Alex P. Vidal
TO
erase doubts, Senior Police Officer 1 Nerio “Rick” Salcedo III, son of Sara
Mayor Neptali Salcedo, should report to his unit in the Regional Headquarters Support Group of
the Police Regional Office 6 in Camp Delgado, Iloilo City and submit himself
for investigation.
Senior
Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, Iloilo Police Provincial Office (IPPO)
director, doubted SP01 Salcedo III’s claim that the death of his live-in
partner, 23-year-old Aiko Sandoval, last January 10 was accidental.
According
to SP01 Salcedo III’s version, Sandoval was taking a bath inside their room
when the Glock pistol fell as she reached out for the towel where the gun was
placed.
The
gun went off hitting Sandoval with a single bullet on the face that pierced
through her neck.
She
died at the Sara District Hospital.
Salinas
did not buy the story.
Citing
autopsy report conducted by Dr. Own Lebaquin, Salinas said the entry of bullet
should have been below, not above.
Only
Salcedo III and Sandoval were present when the “accidental firing” happened. A
dead woman tells no tale.
As
usual, Salcedo III is still presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
-o0o-
SOME
Ilonggo die-hard Catholics who want to get a closer look at the visiting Pope
Francis have opted to go instead to Leyte where the 78-year-old Pontiff is
scheduled to hold a Mass at the Tacloban airport on January 17.
Many
of them have decided to scrap their plans earlier to join thousands of well
wishers and faithful in Manila, where there is slim chance they can get a
ringside view of the popular leader of the world’s 1.2 billion baptized
Catholics at the Quirino Grandstand.
For
Catholics infected by Papa mania coming from Mindanao and Visayas, the most
logical and practical move is to go to Leyte instead of Manila.
The
crowd would be chaotic as organizers expect some six millions faithful to
welcome and attend in Pope Francis’ limited public appearances.
Pope
Francis is a security risk, thus faithful should expect stringent measures to
be applied by combined elements of the Swiss guards and local police security
forces.
The
stage where the Pope will hold Mass is designed by architect Dan Lichauco and
was approved by the Vatican.
RIGGINGS
It
is built with regular riggings and wrapped with sawali backdrop and nipa hut as
wall.
A
secondary stage was also built for a 250-person choir.
Catholics
are the dominant religious faithful in the country.
Church
counted 70,407,588 Filipino Catholics out of the country’s estimated population
of 88.9 million in the 2011 data.
Records
showed that there were around 1.21 million Filipinos that were baptized into
the Catholic Church.
The
number could rise with the coming of Pope Francis, who is viewed as a unifying
figure among religious groups in the country.
The
number of Filipino Catholics reached 76.18 million out of the country’s
estimated population of 96.8 million in 2013.
The
Catholic Directory also recorded 1.37 million baptisms since 2012.
The
Archdiocese of Cebu had the most number of baptisms so far this year, with
90,036, data showed. The Archdiocese of Manila came in second, with 62,854 baptisms,
followed by the Diocese of Masbate, with 55,770.
Welcome
to the Philippines, Papa!
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