The family of the late Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) Representative Crispin Beltran is demanding a public apology from Legazpi Bishop Lucilo Quiambao, after he reportedly issued orders not to say mass for the late labor leader in his hometown in Bacacay, Albay over the weekend.Quiambao acknowledged ordering priests in his diocese not to say mass for Beltran because “he was not Catholic.”But Balleta said Quiambao was wrong about her father. “He was baptized a Catholic in his hometown in Bacacay, Albay, he was baptized there and he even had his first communion there. In fact, all his public records state that he is Roman Catholic,” she said.Balleta explained that the reason they chose to hold her father’s wake at the national cathedral of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI, Philippine Independent Church) was because it was “the first to open its doors to Ka Bel. Plus, Ka Bel is non-sectarian in that he respects other religions.”She added that the IFI also has a militant history. She explained that a wake for Ka Bel was held in the Aglipayan national cathedral on Taft Avenue in Manila because one of its founders, Isabelo delos Reyes, was a great labor leader. Balleta also added that although the Bishop had apologized to their family, it had felt insincere.
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