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[av_heading heading=’SJI lot donor speaks up on school-Diocese tiff’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Friday, May 19, 2017
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BACOLOD City – The lot donor of the St. John’s Institute (SJI), or Hua Ming, has broken their silence on the dispute between the school and the Diocese of Bacolod.
Montelibano family and Capitol Subdivision spokesperson Roberto Montelibano spoke to the press on Thursday to clarify claims by the two parties at odds.
“I am here to set the record straight based on documentary evidence we have in our office and upon my recollection of what transpired more than half a century ago,” he said.
The Diocese was withdrawing church ministries at the Queen of Peace Parish at Hua Ming starting May 31 after it agreed with the SJI to “de-parish” the church.
Refuting the clergy’s claim, Montelibano said Chinese community leaders and priests — not the Diocese — came to see their family seeking a lot where they could put up a school and a chapel.
Two deeds of donation covering two lots were temporarily turned over to the Diocese then under Bishop Manuel Yap and Monsignor Antonio Fortich. At the time, the SJI was not yet incorporated and many Chinese community leaders, including the two Chinese priests who met with the family were not yet recognized, naturalized Filipinos and cannot own properties, said Montelibano.
When the SJI was incorporated, a third deed of donation — superseding the first two — was issued to the school, he said. Diocesan leaders signed and attested to the deed, which became the basis of the land titles, under the name of the SJI, covering the entire school compound.
“The original intent of our family’s donation was for the establishment of the school and the chapel, and we believe Hua Ming has stayed true to that intent and will continue to do so as it had in the past 60 years,” Montelibano said.
He added: “Our family has issued an affidavit to this effect some years back, and we hope to put the ownership issue to rest — the properties on which the Hua Ming community stands were intended for the SJI, for the establishment of a school and a chapel.”
Earlier Bishop Patricio Buzon said the SJI’s Board of Trustees did not agree to let the Queen of Peace Parish church serve as a parish church and the decision was “final and nonnegotiable.”
Montelibano believes the Diocese and the SJI “can settle something before May 31.”
Asked if he was willing to be a mediator, Montelibano said: “Maybe, if the bishop will come and see me, I am willing to listen.”
“It’s the bishop who made it total breakup by calling the school non-Catholic and the church as [no longer a] sacred building,” he added./PN
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