PHILIPPINES
Philippine Canadian Inquirer
By The Canadian Press on February 5, 2016
MANILA—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is one with secular authorities against sexual abuse by clergy members, a CBCP official said.
In a pastoral exhortation, CBCP President Archbishop Socrates Villegas noted that the universal and the local Church’s laws on sexual abuse are in place and “demand strictest compliance.”
“Bishops will not pre-empt investigations by declaring innocence or pronouncing exoneration until after a thorough, impartial and credible evaluation of facts as established by competent evidence,” he said in the statement, which was crafted during its plenary assembly in Cebu City last month.
Villegas added that they were determined to make sure the Church was a safe environment for all Catholics, especially for children.
The CBCP stated that no priest, who is under investigation for child abuse or sexual harassment, would be allowed to leave the diocese.
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