CA junks perjury raps vs exorcist priest

The Court of Appeals has dismissed the perjury case filed against exorcist priest Fr. Winston Cabading, who was previously cleared of liability regarding his comments on the 1948 Marian apparition in Lipa City, Batangas.

Cabading faced perjury charges for citing the 1951 Papal Decree, which states that the Lipa apparition is not of supernatural character or origin, in his counter-affidavit in the offending religious feelings case filed by former Sandiganbayan Justice Harriet Demetriou.

She alleged that Cabading did not attach the document to the counter-affidavit. 

However, the CA First Division ruled that the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96 committed grave abuse of discretion when it denied Cabading's motion to quash the information for perjury even after he submitted to the prosecutors and the trial court a copy of the 1951 Decree.

"Clearly, therefore, petitioner's statements in his counter-affidavit dated January 31, 2023 has basis on the 1951 Decree thereby negating the allegation in the subject information for perjury that he made a 'willful and deliberate assertion of falsehood,'" the decision dated January 26, 2026 stated.

"Accordingly, there is no reason to have petitioner endure the rigors of a trial under the insufficient subject information for perjury and the court must promptly dismiss this case and save the petitioner from the anxiety of undergoing a useless trial," it added.

The perjury charges were filed by Demetriou, whose case against Cabading for offending religious feelings was dismissed by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 224 in May 2024. The CA affirmed the lower court's decision in September 2025. 

Demetriou filed the cases over Cabading's statements on the authenticity of the 1948 Lipa apparition in a digital Catholic show.

She said Cabading deliberately offended the feelings of the Marian devotees who believed in the apparition. — VBL, GMA Integrated News