Catholic priest cleared of rape charges

A judge of a lower court in suburban Quezon City acquitted a Catholic priest from northern Luzon of rape charges, because of the inconsistent testimony of his accuser, a teenage girl, who filed the case four years ago.

Judge Abednego Adre of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court acquitted Fr. Macario Apuyan of the Society of Divine Word, because his accuser, now 19, and her companions gave inconsistent statements during cross-examination.

The girl acted with arrogance on several occasions even without provocation, said the judge, adding that the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and the Department of Social Welfare and Development should now scrutinise the allegations of complainants against priests or churchmen who were accused of sexual abuse.

"Their shortcomings were perhaps attributable to their over- zealousness or even gullibility. They all believed the story of the complainant hook, line and sinker, with dire consequences," the judge said.

The accuser said in 1998, she and several streetchildren sought the help of Apuyan in Vigan, llocos Sur, northern Luzon.

At that time, the priest allegedly convinced her to sleep in his room, but the priest's mother, who was then 83, was also in the same room where the girl claimed she was raped.

Apuyan's mother did not even stop her son from committing the rape in her presence, the girl said.

The girl said she was repeatedly raped, adding that the priest was not armed when the alleged abuse occurred. A year later, in 1999, the girl filed two counts of rape and child abuse before a provincial prosecutor.

The Department of Justice ordered the transfer of the suits before a Quezon City court and the detention of Apuyan at the Quezon City jail in 1999.