CA junks perjury case vs priest

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February 1, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The Court of Appeals (CA) has dismissed a perjury case filed against exorcist priest, Fr. Winston Cabading, in connection with his statement that the 1948 Marian apparition in Lipa, Batangas is not authentic.

In a 37-page decision promulgated on Jan. 26, the appellate court’s First Division granted Cabading’s petition for certiorari assailing two rulings handed down by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 96.

The QCRTC Branch 96 denied Cabading’s motion to quash the case information and motion for reconsideration in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The CA agreed with Cabading’s contention that the prosecution failed to include in the case information all key elements of perjury as provided under Article 183 of the Revised Penal Code, particularly the “willful and deliberate assertion of falsehood” in a statement made under oath.

“There is no reason to have the petitioner endure the rigors of a trial under the insufficient subject information for perjury. The court must promptly dismiss this case and save the petitioner from the anxiety of undergoing a useless trial,” the decision penned by Presiding Justice Fernanda Peralta read.

Associate Justices Pepetua Susana Atal-Paño and Eduardo Ramos Jr. concurred with the ruling.

The grant of a motion to quash is tantamount to the dismissal of the case.

Filed by the Office of the City Prosecutor in January 2024, the case stemmed from a complaint filed by retired Sandiganbayan justice Harriet Demetriou, a devotee of Our Lady Mary, Mediatrix of All Grace, known as the Our Lady of Lipa.

Demetriou said Cabading failed to attach in his counter-affidavit the 1951 Decree of Pope Pius XII approving the findings of the Vatican that the events surrounding the supposed 1948 Marian apparition in Lipa “did not have a supernatural origin and character.”

However, the CA said records showed that Cabading had submitted a copy of the papal decree before the Office of the City Prosecutor.