• Fake priest arrested for illegal drugs in Cotabato
• The suspect claimed he is a missionary priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco
• The SBD disowned the suspect
A man who claimed to be a priest was arrested by authorities for illegal drugs in Midsayap, North Cotabato on Sunday, February 28.
John Ferolin who has been introducing himself as a missionary priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SBD) congregation was nabbed in his hideout in Barangay Katingawan in Midsayap, but an official of the SBD disowned him.
An article posted in the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines news website said Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB, said a certain Father John Ferolin who was arrested in Cotabato for possession of illegal drugs is not a Salesian priest.
Dimaranan, rector of Don Bosco Technical College in Mandaluyong said, “there is no such priest or missionary from among our remaining foreign missionaries, and no Filipino Salesian goes by that name.”
“And no, we have no missionary outpost or work in North Cotabato. Above all, we Salesians do not work alone. We always work as a community. This is a poseur and a dangerous one at that,” Fr. Dimaranan added.
Midsayap police Chief Supt. Tom Tuzon revealed Ferolin is in their illegal drug personality watch list and that he was placed under surveillance for several months.
After the police confirmed the fake priest’s base of operation, an entrapment operation was organized. Three sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu, worth P7,500 were recovered from him.
The suspect did not put up any resistance, but said he should not be arrested because he is a priest. However, when asked for documents to support his claim, he could not present any.
Ferolin later claimed he was on a “year-long exposure to the outside world” furlough from the seminary before he will be ordained a priest.
Quoting several witnesses, Tuzon said the phony priest even presided over holy masses in remote villages in Cotabato and that he collected mass offerings from unsuspecting churchgoers.
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