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The Daily Star, Philippines
May 30, 2006
Gilbert Bayoran
www.visayandailystar.com

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ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 14823 • Posted: Tuesday May 30, 2006  

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Fishermen or members of a cult group could be behind the recent stealing of the head and two hands of the Blessed Virgin Dolorosa, patron saint of the St. Paul Parish Church, in Cauayan, Negros Occidental, police said yesterday.

The incident took place almost nine months after robbers also beheaded and stole the two hands of a statue of a similar patron saint in Brgy. Inayauan, Cauayan, in July last year.

Insp. Rudy Bico, Cauayan police chief, yesterday said two unidentified suspects forced their way into the St. Paul Parish Church at midnight of May 25, and took the head and two hands of the Blessed Virgin Dolorosa. Other Roman Catholic churches burglarized by suspected cultists were those of Hinigaran, Murcia, E.B. Magalona, La Castellana and Sagay within a period of two years, police records show.

There are reports that the stolen parts of statues are being used as “anting-antings” (amulets).

On the other hand, Bico said the stolen parts of Blessed Virgin Dolorosa in Brgy. Inayauan and poblacion Cauayan, may have been used by fishermen to ensure an abundant catch of fish, or by members of a cultist group as amulets.

The police have yet to make a breakthrough in their investigation on the stealing of statues from churches in Negros Occidental.

Bico said they are concentrating their operations within the coastal barangays of Cauayan, as he raised suspicions that the culprits were more likely to be fishermen.

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