The healing priest’s rich lifestyle

[Monseratto]

Fame and money can corrupt, even a man of the cloth.

Hello Kim Henares???

ON TARGET
The healing priest’s rich lifestyle
By Ramon Tulfo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
2:08 am | Thursday, March 6th, 2014

San Miguel Corp. (SMC) could well have underwritten the construction of the proposed P1-billion shrine to Mother Mary, a project of Fr. Fernando Suarez in Cavite province.

But the business conglomerate discovered massive unnecessary spending by the healing priest, according to an SMC insider, and thus withdrew its support from the project.

“Before, Father Suarez would come to RSA’s office wearing only a T-shirt and sandals, but now he wears expensive clothes and watches, stays in five-star hotels and attends tennis matches like the Wimbledon Classic and the French Open,” said the SMC insider.

Ramon S. Ang, president and CEO of San Miguel Corp. is “RSA” to his subordinates.

RSA, who wears an ordinary collared shirt to work, has faith in the healing power of Father Suarez, but he was reportedly “shocked” at the priest’s change of lifestyle.

Ang is a devout Catholic and his wife is a member of Opus Dei, an organization of ultraconservative Catholic laymen.
When SMC, as a principal benefactor, ordered an audit of Father Suarez’s Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation, the business conglomerate discovered that the foundation had spent money left and right without supporting documents.

Examples:

The foundation acquired the Little Bridge Resort in Butong, Taal town in Batangas province, saying it paid P55 million out of the total purchase price of P74 million.

There were no documents to support the transaction.

The foundation reimbursed spouses Bong and Elvie Garcia $850,727.20 using its dollar account, supposedly for the donation of the Sto. Niño chapel in Pagkilatan, Batangas City.

What was the reimbursement for if the chapel was donated?

Construction work for the Tabernacle 3 of St. Peter’s Chapel in Butong, Taal, Batangas at P17,827,412.04 in 2008 and 2009.
There were no documents proving the amount was donated.

Donation of P7,249,950 by Teresa Chan for the acquisition of a 102,795-sq m property, but only P3,101,850 was booked.

Many rich people healed by Father Suarez have given him hundreds of thousands and even millions of pesos out of gratitude.

But when asked why his foundation was short on finances, the priest was reportedly heard saying: “Sa akin binigay ang pera. Bakit ko ibibigay sa aking foundation (The money was given to me. Why should I give it to my foundation)?”

Suarez’s high living led to the resignations of Archbishop Chito Tagle as chair of Mother Mary of the Poor Foundation on Sept. 27, 2012; Antonio Tambunting as vice chair on Oct. 2, 2012; and Jun Mangilit as treasurer on Oct. 3, 2012.

To SMC, the amount is peanuts given the money it sets aside for corporate social responsibility projects.

But it would have been very unwise of Ang to continue supporting a religious project whose initiator is living the life of the rich and famous when his life should be monastic.

Read more: The healing priest?s rich lifestyle | Inquirer News
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[Monseratto]

SMC scuttles land donation to healing priest
By Daxim L. Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:25 am | Wednesday, March 5th, 2014


A deal between San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and healing priest Fr. Fernando Suarez to build a “mega-shrine” to Mother Mary with a statue that would be taller than the 30-meter-high Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro has collapsed, the Inquirer has learned.
SMC’s concerns about the management of the project and financial issues involving the priest’s Mary Mother of the Poor (MMP) Foundation derailed what on paper was supposed to be a one-of-a-kind project rivaling some of Christendom’s grandest religious sanctuaries.

Suarez is on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and cannot be reached for comment.

The agreement for the donation of SMC’s 33-hectare property in Alfonso, Cavite, was reached four years ago. The shrine was to be called “The Healing Center of the Blessed Virgin Mary at MonteMaria.” From all indications, however, this plan will no longer push through, or at least not on the same site.

SMC and the MMP are set to announce this week that they will dissolve their agreement on the donation located in SMC’s 125-hectare property.

“The deal is off,” said a source familiar with SMC’s side of the issue, pointing to provisions of the agreement that required the MMP to construct the church within five years of receiving the property donation.

The source noted that the MMP had asked for an extension, but that SMC was not inclined to agree to it.

“If San Miguel had seen that there was significant progress being made, I think it would have been inclined to give an extension,” the source said, adding that the foundation has so far failed to present viable plans for the shrine.

This jibes with information from MMP officials. They conceded that the estimated P1 billion needed to build the shrine was beyond their ability to raise.

The foundation had earlier put forward suggestions on how they could raise the necessary funds, including using the land as collateral to obtain a bank loan or selling slots in a columbarium that would be built on the property. Both ideas were vetoed by SMC.

SMC concerns

More importantly, however, SMC officials had grown increasingly concerned in recent years about the handling of MMP’s assets. These consist of donations from devotees and the Cavite property, which constituted its single biggest asset.

“San Miguel is worried about how the money is managed,” said the source, who added that disagreements among members of the old MMP board regarding the disposition of funds prompted Suarez to form a new board of directors.

The source pointed out that SMC had “spent millions,” including tax payments necessary for the transfer of the property’s ownership, while progress on the part of the foundation had been insufficient.

But according to Deedee Siytangco—a member of the foundation’s current board of directors, and a Suarez devotee since 2006—the MMP’s early days were “a learning experience” for its officials.

“In the beginning, it was a tayo-tayo family-type [affair],” she said.

A board member, Manuel Sta. Cruz, said that the MMP commissioned an audit from the accounting firm SGV & Co. last year, and had sought and received accreditation from the Philippine Council for NGO Certification.

“With the new board, we’ve legitimized everything,” Siytangco said, “because we were also concerned that people were talking [about it].”

“We want to feel comfortable about ourselves when we’re dealing with people who want to give money to the foundation,” she explained.

Previous to the SMC deal, the MMP was supposed to build its shrine in Batangas City on a 5-hectare property owned by Hermilando Mandanas, a former Batangas governor and representative.

Face-saving move

The donation fell through in 2010, and no official reasons were given by either side at the time.

“The simple fact is that we thought he had donated it to the foundation. As it turned out, he donated it to the archdiocese,” Siytangco said. “So we couldn’t work on that basis because we were going to build a nice shrine there. We had to leave because we couldn’t work with those conditions.”

With a sigh, she recalled Suarez as saying, “We can’t stay where we’re not welcome.”

“We’re not talking about the San Miguel donation and the vision of Father Suarez to build a shrine there,” lawyer Lorna Kapunan said about the joint statement to be issued.

“So let’s not talk about the San Miguel property, their donation and what the board has decided,” she said. “I speak for both because I am a retained counsel of San Miguel and I do pro bono work for Father [Suarez]. I believe in him.”

Sources from both camps said that this joint statement—expected to be issued this week—is meant to provide a face-saving way for both parties to undo the donation.

“Even if this project won’t push through, we don’t want San Miguel to look bad because we did benefit from the property during our stay,” said an MMP official. “We’ve been holding healing Masses there for the last four years which thousands of people have attended.”

Passionate devotees

Siytangco and fellow devotee Baby Ignacio were passionate in their defense of Suarez, saying he was a simple man whose main activity outside his priestly duties was playing tennis.

Ignacio pointed out that Suarez was initially uncomfortable about his supposed gift of healing, which had attracted thousands of devotees here and overseas.

According to her, there was a case in Canada early in Suarez’s career where the patient died before he could pray over her—because a blizzard had prevented him from coming earlier—but reportedly came back to life when he came to bless the body a few hours later.

Many of the stories about Fr. Suarez’s “miracle cures” are difficult to verify. Some of the most comprehensive—and arguably, the most authoritative—information available can be found online in three websites: Monte Maria - Philippines - Fr. Fernando Suarez, MMMP, Welcome to Mary Mother of the Poor and The Healing Ministry of Father Fernando Suarez.

The homepage of the MMP congregation even has a section dedicated to informing the faithful about the Monte Maria project. These included several links detailing how donors can help underwrite its construction costs via credit card and PayPal accounts, mailed check donations, and transfers and deposits to bank accounts both in the Philippines and in North America.

Most telling, however, were links on the website labeled “events supporting the project,” “project progress” and “fund-raising progress report.”

The pages were blank.

Read more: SMC scuttles land donation to healing priest | Inquirer News
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[111prez]

Isumbong kay Santo Papa

[chua_riwap]

hiling priest pala siya.......
dami hiling, dami donations.

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[Gumusut_Amige]

i'm hoping that his healing power is still there if this news is true. else for sure he can't sustain his lavish lifestyle

[romeocharlie]

I think kaya bumagsak ang monte maria sa alfonso cavite kase si fr suarez eh pinalipat somewhere in mindoro under a certain congregation., nakakapunta lang siya sa cavite every 3rd sunday of the month after the tv mass sa abscbn..

Ang mahirap kase sa situation ni fr. Suarez, madaming mga archbishop/bishop and higher clergy ang nag-aagawan na makuha sila sa kanilang parish para dun dumayo ang mga tao na nagpapa-heal..

More people = more donations

How do i know? My mom is a volunteer of monte maria since its pioneer years dito sa Pagkilatan, Batangas to where the proposed shrine is originally planned.. But then politics cramped up everything. And the former governor of batangas, had his own shrine of mama mary built...


Posted via Tsikot Mobile App

[Monseratto]

A scam because there are many gullible people...

SPECIAL REPORT
Some bishops cool to Suarez ministry
By Jocelyn R. Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
3:03 am | Friday, March 7th, 2014
(Third of a series)


Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle has distanced himself from the aborted land deal between San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation (MMP) of so-called healing priest Fernando Suarez.

Tagle served on the foundation’s board of directors, but he left when he was named archbishop of Manila in 2011.

“I left the board of Mary Mother of the Poor Foundation when I came to Manila from Cavite so I am not aware and not involved in the latest developments,” Tagle said on Friday through Peachy Yamsuan, communications chief of the Archdiocese of Manila.

Tagle was still in the Vatican when sought for comment on the failure of the deal between SMC and MMP. He flew to Rome last week to attend the consistory where Pope Francis elevated Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo and 18 other prelates to the College of Cardinals.

SMC donated a 33-hectare property in Alfonso town, Cavite province, four years ago for Suarez to build a “mega-shrine” to the Virgin Mary that would have a statue of her taller than the 30-meter-high statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

Conditions unmet

Tagle said the donation had conditions. “It is clear that if the foundation fails to meet them, the land would go back to SMC. Maybe that was what happened,” Tagle said.

The Inquirer learned that the donation required MMP to build the shrine within five years of the signing of the agreement.

This is the fifth year, but despite receiving millions of pesos from local supporters and millions of dollars from foreign believers, MMP has not shown SMC the plans for the shrine.

A source familiar with SMC’s side of the deal told the Inquirer that MMP had asked for an extension, but without any sign of progress in the concept for the shrine the company was unwilling to extend the agreement.

The two sides were expected to announce the termination of the donation agreement this week.

Suarez was not available for comment. He was on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

When asked what Tagle thought of talk that he was “unfriendly” toward Suarez because he looked down on the priest’s activities, Yamsuan said it was something that the cardinal would rather not comment on.

The Catholic Church is not quick to recognize healing powers. As an organization, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) is respectful about Suarez’s claims of having healing powers, but some of its members are wary about his pursuits.

Moneymaking venture

A Church official who requested not to be identified said several bishops closed their doors on Suarez because his healing ministry had turned out to be a moneymaking venture.

“There was trouble in the Diocese of Mindoro [where Suarez is affiliated], the clergy was divided and apparently he was one of the causes of that division. Then little by little, bishops here and there no longer allowed him to conduct healing sessions in their dioceses because of suspicion that he was making money out of healing and already fooling people,” said the Church official.

“He was healing here and there and asking for contributions, selling blessed rosaries and medals,” he added.

The official named at least two bishops who had disallowed Suarez from holding healing sessions in their dioceses: former CBCP president and retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz and Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros.

Cruz said last Friday that he publicly reprimanded Suarez in 2008 for celebrating Masses and holding healing sessions in his archdiocese without his permission.

Cruz sounded disapproving of the healing sessions, saying such activities were “open to abuses, like superstition, hysteria, fanaticism and money.”

‘Bad news’ about Suarez

Cruz said he had heard “bad news” about Suarez.

“Among the bad news I remember was that he was a fake and that he was money-oriented and that his ‘healing ability’ was not true,” Cruz said, adding that he did not believe Suarez had healing powers.

Cruz said he had heard accounts of Suarez raising the dead, which he described as “incredible.”

“Raising the dead to life is not within human reach. It is not within human competence,” Cruz said.

He said he found it strange that Suarez went around looking for sick people when “honest-to-goodness” healers recognized by the Church like Padre Pio and Mother Teresa did not travel in search of sick people to heal.

“[The sick] people are the ones who go to them. It’s the sick who seek them. [Healers] don’t seek the sick, like Father Suarez,” Cruz said.

Oliveros was not available for an interview when the Inquirer sought him out for comment last Friday.

Banned from Malolos

Fr. Dars Cabral, chief of Malolos Commission on Family and Life, said the ban was imposed three years ago after Suarez held a healing session in the diocese without permission from Oliveros.

The ban stays, Cabral said, adding that he would know how Oliveros would react if Suarez came to apologize and ask for permission to celebrate healing Masses in the province.

A local priest, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press, said a healing session was held at Sta. Rita Parish Church in Guiguinto town in 2011 without permission from the bishop.

The priest compared Suarez’s activity to a plumber fixing a leak in a house without being called in by the homeowner.

But Suarez must have been carrying out his ministry in Malolos even earlier. At a news conference in 2008, Oliveros announced that he was writing a formal complaint to the religious superiors of Suarez to inform them that the priest had been coming to the Malolos diocese in violation of the rules of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The congregation’s rules require Church-related ministries, like public healing or prayer session, to have explicit permission of bishops.—With a report from Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon

Read more: Some bishops cool to Suarez ministry | Inquirer News
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[lowslowbenz]

Apparently the Poor Foundation is not so "poor".

[cardict]

Baka may planong mag tayo ng sariling sekta like JIL,ES,INC,ADD:

[zeus17]

sad to say na aside from the government church is one of the in my opinion corrupt organizations out there,

on early child hood until mid highschool,i served for the church and had a peek on small time corruption,since those were the things easily seen,,,
collection money on let say a regular monday mass,morning donations range anywhere from 5-10k..
in between transport from church to office a couple of thousands go missing and handed over to me ,as help my elderly said..
i said nothing of this.
then we were on weddings,house blessings,money is given out,to us and not accounted for....

its very seldom almost close to none i see a priest not having a car nowadays..

plus the church is a big financial institution after all,...prone to a lot of loops..