More than 4,000 parishioners in Zamboanguita town have filed a petition calling for the ouster of their two parish priests for alleged politicking activities during the last polls.

The signed petitions contained in 10 folders representing the 10 barangays of Zamboanguita were submitted yesterday to Dumaguete Bishop John Du. The group are seeking the ouster of Frs. Lyndon Zerna and Jay Enriquez.

The parishioners were led by Association of Barangay Captains president Nemesio Cabus, Parish Pastoral Council president Sammy Elnar and some of his members, and seven Sangguniang Bayan members of Zamboanguita.

A sister at the Bishop’s Palace received the petition while the prelate was inside. The parishioners accused the two priests of announcing before the pulpit their choice of children to be baptized choosing the dead they are going to bless, and their policies during wedding rites.

They said that baptismal certificates are given only to those who voted for defeated mayoralty candidate Constantino Recto, and that, the two priests will not celebrate mass in barangays where Recto was defeated.

Barangay captains, said Zerna and Enriquez used the pulpit in criticizing them because of coming barangay elections.

A former acolyte of the parish, Lorenzo Adanza, who accompanied the petitioners in submitting the documents to Du, said he had been serving the parish for 17 years, but was removed by Fr. Zerna for his choice of a mayoralty candidate in the last elections.*JG

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