Priest, woman no show at hearing on adultery

ANGELES CITY—A Catholic priest and his supposed girlfriend did not appear on Friday for the preliminary investigation of a complaint for adultery filed by the woman’s husband on Oct. 12.

Fr. Jeffrey Louie Maghirang was represented by his lawyer, George Logronio. The woman, however, did not send a lawyer to represent her. The preliminaries were held behind closed doors.

Saying he handled the case only on Thursday, Logronio filed a motion asking City Prosecutor Oliver Garcia to give him 10 days to file Maghirang’s counter-affidavit. Garcia approved Logronio’s motion.

The complainant, 42, and his relatives wore black shirts during the hearing.

Citing the need to protect his three-year-old son, the complainant declined interviews because he said he had agreed with the other party to refrain from talking about the case.

“[There is] no talking now. I just want to tell you that there is so much pain inside me,” he said.

Maghirang or the woman did not issue any statement.

The man went ahead with filing the complaint although Archbishop Paciano Aniceto, head of the Archdiocese of San Fernando, Pampanga, had suspended Maghirang in July, said Fr. Larry Sarmiento, head of the archdiocese’s conciliation and arbitration committee.

Adultery carries a penalty of eight to 12 years in prison.

This is known to be the first case in the 50-year-old archdiocese that reached the court although members of the laity have information about priests who sired children, kept families, practiced homosexuality, abused minors, gambled habitually or mismanaged finances.

In his complaint, the man said he discovered the supposed romantic affair in April this year. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon