TUESDAY / OcroBER 22, 2019

.. WWW.INQUIRER.NET

'Damaso' incident
-- 'Redress'
un sept. 30, 2o1o, anud i "rt is now incumbent on
h"";;;;;;d-;;;il",-;;, the congress to accord ius-
rfi0ffiAr{tllAllT$ then the reproductive health tice and redress to celdmnby
bill, celdran went to Manila repealing Article r33' which is
cathedral dressed as national
REPilt OF IItlI hero Jose Rizal and raised a
'an odious remnant of the
Dark Ages' and 'offensive to
placard with the name of
freedom of expression""
"Damaso,,, in reference to the 'the
ll$ 0FtEllBll{$ yillainous friar from Rizal,s Albay Rep' Edcel Lagman
nover
..Noli
me tansere.,, t"i*i,"[o;t]^l;*
p"riri.a
REII$IOU$ BETIEF$ fie,was promptly arrested '' statement that unlike Padre
By DJ Yap t:'lc'-.:_t .Yll
:1" -:1119:1 -"lini"q Damaso, tl,e catholic hierar-
r;':ll1l9: ejol; . chy must nor inrerfereinsec-
:l^"_
@deejayaplNQ _ sron rn tne Re\,'rsed Pena.l
ular affairs iike Preventing
code_ passage of the reproduc-
In honor of tle
late heritage celdran made his demon. the
tive health bill even as
conservationist and activist -
srratton at tne launcnrng or
Proteslant bishops did not
Carlos Celdran, a lawmaker is the "Handwritten Bible," a
seeking the repeal of an "ar- proiect or the phtippine
chaic" law against "offending Bible Society, which also :f|i**:-3:ffi'j;:1fi:
principal author of that bill'
religious beliefs," on which served as a cerebration ofthe
Republic Act
Celdran was convicted in zoro
; rhey. Be one Bible"
for his controversial '?adre ^May $l]:lrH:" "
Damaso" protest against the
catholic Church's stald onre-
the ::i1*,,,".T.91:9
-clTt:tT-
-."J"ir'"'cr"r"ii"";'"*..
among Uatholrc Church - Lasman said Articte r33

productive health.
celdran was sentenced to
prison for violating 'Article
133 of the Revised Penal
Code, on "Offending the Reli-
gious Feelings."
The law penalizes "any-
i:]|",":fiil"'}jf#T"*1
According-to the Archdio- , tion ofthe court to divine the
CeSeot Mamla. r[ was the
government, through the
public prosecutor, that 'wounded religious feel-
ings '" -wrx r ereoRr FRoM lN-
charged cetdran. The arch-
QUIRERRESEARCH INQ
orocese ord not pursue the
case on instructions from

^pAqe -Ago
one who, in a place devoted then Manila Archbishop cau-.
to religious worship or dur- dencio Rosales-
ing the celebration of anY re- In 2013, the Manila Re-
ligious ceremony, shall Per- gional Trial Court found Cel-
form acts notodously offen- dral guilty and sentenced
sive to the feelings of the him to a prison term of not
faithtul." less than two months and 21
' days, and'not more than one
year, one month and 11days.
Two years later, Celdran
asked the Supreme Court to
set aside the Court of Ap-
peals' Dec. 12, 2o14, ruling and
, Aug. r4,2015, resolution that
affirmed his zor3 conviction.
But the high court af-
firm€d last year the convic-
tion of Celdran, who relocat-
ed to Spain in February this
year and died there on Oct. 8,