BEING in the hands of cold-blooded cultists is like being trapped helplessly in a blazing inferno where trying to escape and survive could be a thing next to impossibility.
This was the hardest lesson learned by the youthful Jonathan Cabusas when he tried to save his grandmother Teofila Camongay Cabusas from the clutches of their own relatives during a ritual killing in Barangay Baliwagan, Balingasag town in Misamis Oriental last August 26.
In his sworn affidavit, the 20-year-old Jonathan said he tried to rescue the 75-year-old Septuagenarian from being harmed, but the effort almost cost him his own life.
When he did, Jonathan said his 21-year-old cousin Cresanto Ercilla ― who is the group leader of the eleven extreme fanatics of the Philippine Benevolent Christian Missionaries (PBCM) church based in the neighboring Jasaan town ― threatened to also burn him alive.
Jonathan said he feared for his life and cowered while witnessing the horrible scenario in front of him that he could not imagine happened beyond his wildest imagination.
And it was the very painful suffering of their ‘lola’ at the hands of her own children, grandchildren, and their two friends under the ‘influence’ of Cresanto who can do virtually anything that he wanted for others to follow.
Declaring that the spirit of the PBCM’s late founding head Tomas Eugenio has possessed him, Cresanto was able to convince his small congregation that he was the anointed one.
According to Major Teodoro de Oro, the Balingasag town police chief, that Cresanto’s much older relatives were made to worship, recite Latin words, and dance around a flame, day and night, without eating and sleeping.
They became obedient and submissive, De Oro said, except for the poor victim who was loyal to death to her lifetime Divine Master Eugenio she firmly held a framed picture of him when Cresanto tried his best to assert his spiritual power on her.
Survivor Jonathan and her mother Erlinda Cabusas narrated their accounts of the incident in court documents forwarded to the Regional Trial Court of Misamis Oriental Branch 41 prepared by Prosecutor II Uldah Elisa C. Rebuta-Bonoan and approved by Provincial Prosecutor Irene Alejado-Meso.
Jonathan testified that Teofila had already sustained injuries after crawling from a pile of burning wood set up for ritual when somebody awakened him around 3 am to check what has been going on that fateful Friday dawn.
Grimacing in pain and surrounded by relatives, the old woman was forced by Cresanto to dance along with her daughter Jocelyn around the flame.
While Teofila was dancing, her apparent body burns have been exposed and they splashed some water on her while shouting that their matriarch was a sinner.
They blamed her for all the misfortunes in life that they encountered or experienced.
Already in the painstaking ordeal, Cresanto, his mother and Teofila’s own daughter then proceeded in repeatedly beat her to Jonathan’s great horror.
For every blow, they kept on shouting at her “ila ilaha si master” referring to Cresanto, while holding the image of Eugenio.
It was at this juncture that Jonathan tried to save her but to no avail as Cresanto threatened to also burn him alive.
But when some neighbors rushed to interfere, Jonathan took the chance.
He seized the victim onboard his motorcycle from Sitio Palipi down to their house in sitio Bagaay to the surprise of her mother Erlinda.
It was Erlinda who called the authorities in Balingasag for rescue and brought the victim to the town hospital.
Still alive, Teofila managed to identify her grandson Cresanto as the main culprit and his three cousins and cohorts Romeo Ercilla, Charlie Cabusas, and Reymer Carno as the ones who threw her into the blaze.
Teofila also revealed to Erlinda that the suspects got mad at her for her refusal to follow their religious beliefs outside of Eugenio’s teaching.
One of the respondents, Romeo had already executed an affidavit of admission as assisted by lawyer Cristina Teres Moreno-Ociones, stating he only followed Cresanto’s order out of fear.
“But they had unity of intent when they committed the offense,” said the undersigned prosecutors as they found probable cause to indict all of the suspects for parricide charges.
Cresanto and company including Nicolas Cabusas, Reymer Carno, Charlie Cabusas, Jocelyn Ercilla, Rochel Ercilla, Romeo Ercilla, Rosalina Cabusas, Merlinda Cabusas, and non-relatives Jeramil Rotula and his brother Jesser ‘Toto’ Rotula are now detained at the Misamis Oriental Provincial Jail waiting for arraignment.
Jail authorities have to isolate or split them from other inmates and among each other for security reasons.
“What they did to the old woman was unthinkable that even the hardened criminals have been itching out to have a piece of them,” said assistant provincial jail warden Francis Sarangay.
