Former parish manager shows up, gets arrested

A WOMAN convicted of stealing church funds in 2004 was arrested when she appeared in court to appeal her case in the Palace of Justice in Cebu City.

Evelyn Mercader, former manager and bookkeeper of the Jesuit-run Sacred Heart parish, showed up last Friday before Regional Trial Court Judge Simeon Dumdum Jr., who ordered her arrest.

She is now in the Cebu city jail, while her lawyer is pleading for her release.

Two weeks earlier, Judge Dumdum declared Mercader guilty of 12 counts of qualified theft for stealing P.5 million by falsifying records of the turnover of the church’s weekly collections to be deposited in a bank. She was sentenced to imprisonment of up to 40 years, the maximum allowed by law.

Mercader, a mother of three, was not present during the court promulgation, which prompted the judge to issue a warrant of arrest.

The case of qualified theft has shocked the Sacred Heart Parish, whose members mostly come from the Cebuano-Chinese community. Mercader had been the bookeeper and accountant for over 20 years.

The criminal case was filed after parish priest Fr. Benjamin Sim, SJ assumed office in 2004 and had finance records of the parish reviewed. A committee of lay members discovered the discrepancy after finding out that the parish had incurred large debts, including payables to the Visayan Electric Company and the Cebu Archdiocese.

Mercader was convicted based on testimonies of other workers and clergy about her role as the accountant and manager entrusted with the funds, and a comparison of bank records of pick-up deposits she arranged which did not tally with the journal of the parish cashier.

She was convicted for qualified theft for the amount of P557,640.84. This represented church collections for four months in 2004, which surfaced in the audit.

However, the court record noted that Mercader, who was confronted in 2004 about the loss of funds, wrote a priest promising to pay back the P2.15 million by installments, which did not happen.

Mercader’s lawyer Arlan Richard Alvarez filed a motion for reconsideration and is asking the court for her acquittal.

The lawyer said his client wasn’t aware of the date of promulgation “because her counsel did not inform her about the notice of promulgation.”

He said Evelyn had “no intention to defy the court’s order” for her to appear.

“Evelyn had been present in all of the proceedings of these cases,” Alvarez said in a pleading and was absent only on the day the verdict was read.

“Evelyn’s case deserves a second look. Her liberty like her life deserves it—her three kids too,” the lawyer said. Mercader has three children aged 14, 13, and 11.

The defense lawyer said they will question the accuracy of entries in the cashier’s journal, which was the main basis of the court’s verdict.

Alvarez said he believes the journal was fabricated.

“The journal simply lacks probative value to put a mother of three kids to prison for 40 years, to let the kids grow without their mother’s care, and to possibly break a marriage,” he said.

Mercader’s father was the parish pianist. She grew up in the church compound on D. Jakosalem Street and was granted a college scholarship by the parish. After graduation, she was hired as the parish bookkeeper, then became its accountant and later the manager.

The church is now called the Archdiocesan Shrine of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The court verdict said that Mercader tried to cover up the theft case by ordering a utility worker to burn two garbage bags containing vouchers, used checks, and receipts.

When she resigned in October 2004, the parish only had P30,000 in the bank and no more dollar account.