Bukidnon bishop creates office that will address sexual offenses
A bishop from Bukidnon has created an office that aims to address reports related to alleged sexual abuses made by the clergy. Malaybalay City, Bukidnon Bishop Jose Cabantan has issued a decree establishing the “Office for the Reception of Reports Pertaining to the Abuse of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.”
Cabantan appointed Rev. Fr. Neil Molion as the director of the said office. Molion is currently assigned at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary.
Cabantan’s decree was an answer to Pope Francis’ mandate for dioceses to have stable and easily accessible systems for submission of reports on sexual offenses made by the clergy.
Cabantan also wrote that the office aims to address “cover-ups by bishops.”
Among the offenses that can be reported to the said office are:
- forcing someone, by violence or threat or through abuse of authority, to perform or submit to sexual acts;
- performing sexual acts with a minor or a vulnerable person;
- and the production, exhibition, possession, or distribution, including by electronic means, of child pornography, as well as by the recruitment of or inducement of a minor or a vulnerable person to participate in pornographic exhibitions.
