[MSN] Philippines - Villafuerte seeks higher penalty for theft within churches, temples, museums

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28 - Villafuerte seeks higher penalty for theft within churches, temples, museums
Saturday, July 28 2007 @ 05:33 PM BST
Metro

Alarmed by the desecration of churches due to looting, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte is pushing new legislation that would raise the penalty for thieves of religious articles.

Under Villafuerte's proposal, the punishment to be imposed for theft or robbery committed within any church, temple or public museum would be higher by two degrees than the applicable penalty for such offenses under existing law.

"The theft of religious icons, and likewise of relics and artistic works that constitute the finest expressions of our culture, traditions and way of life, arouses national indignation. This national indignation should find corresponding utterance in our criminal laws," Villafuerte said.

"This type of larceny threatens the gains we've achieved in establishing our people's links to its past. Where religious objects are stolen, it also outrages our people's sense of the sacred and the holy," he pointed out.

The theft of religious icons remains rampant in the country.

Just two weeks ago, a life-size marble statue of San Antonio de Padua, the patron saint of lost articles, was discovered missing from the San Diego de Alcala Parish in Valenzuela City, where the statue has been installed for more than half a century.

Fortunately, a group of men later anonymously returned the missing statue by surrendering it to the newsroom of a TV network.

In December last year, a 20-karat gold necklace was stolen from the image of St. Michael the Archangel installed in a church in the Municipality of Argao in Cebu.

In November last year, a 30-kilo, century-old bronze bell was seized from a church in Malinta, also in Valenzuela.

In July last year, an 18th century, two-foot image of Saint Vincent Ferrer was taken from one of the oldest Catholic churches in Northern Luzon.

The figure was seized from the belfry of the St. Vincent Ferrer Church in Dupax del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya. The church itself is classified as "a national cultural treasure" by the National Commission for Culture and Arts.

"Our heightened sense of history and national identity has not been without adverse side effects. One of the most deplorable is the pilferage of religious icons and cultural artifacts by felons who have found a lucrative market in equally rotten traders in these objects," Villafuerte lamented.