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9 Garces Vs Estenzo

1) The barangay council of Valencia, Ormoc City adopted resolutions to revive the traditional celebration of their patron saint San Vicente Ferrer and to acquire an image of the saint using funds from ticket sales and donations. 2) They designated the chairman as caretaker of the image, which would be kept in his residence and made available to the Catholic church for mass on the feast day. 3) A dispute arose when the parish priest refused to return the image, claiming it belonged to the church because church funds were used to acquire it. 4) The court ruled the resolutions did not establish religion or take public funds, as the image was purchased with private donations, not taxes,

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81 views2 pages

9 Garces Vs Estenzo

1) The barangay council of Valencia, Ormoc City adopted resolutions to revive the traditional celebration of their patron saint San Vicente Ferrer and to acquire an image of the saint using funds from ticket sales and donations. 2) They designated the chairman as caretaker of the image, which would be kept in his residence and made available to the Catholic church for mass on the feast day. 3) A dispute arose when the parish priest refused to return the image, claiming it belonged to the church because church funds were used to acquire it. 4) The court ruled the resolutions did not establish religion or take public funds, as the image was purchased with private donations, not taxes,

Uploaded by

D. Ram
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Garces v.

Estenzo
G.R. No. L-53487, 25 May 1981

FACTS:

The barangay council of Valencia, Ormoc City, adopted Resolution No. 5, “reviving the
traditional socio-religious celebration” every 5th day of April “of the feast day of Señor San
Vicente Ferrer, the patron saint of Valencia”. It provided for the acquisition of the image of San
Vicente Ferrer that would be obtained through the selling of tickets and cash donations. They
subsequently passed Resolution No. 6 designating the chairman or hermano mayor of the fiesta
to be the caretaker of the image and would remain in his residence for one year and until the
election of his next successor. The said image would also be made available to the Catholic
parish church during the celebration of the saint’s feast day.

Through the funds raised by means of solicitations and cash donations of the barangay
residents and those of the neighboring places of Valencia, the wooden image of San Vicente
Ferrer was acquired by the barangay council for four hundred pesos. It was then temporarily
placed in the altar of the Catholic church of Barangay Valencia so that the devotees could
worship the saint during the mass for the fiesta.

A controversy arose after the mass when the parish priest, Father Sergio Marilao Osmeña,
refused to return that image to the barangay council on the pretext that it was the property of the
church because church funds were used for its acquisition.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the resolutions contravene the constitutional provision that “no law shall be
made respecting an establishment of religion”.

RULING:

No. The questioned resolutions do not directly or indirectly establish any religion, nor abridge
religious liberty, nor was appropriate public money or property for the benefit of any sect, priest
or clergyman for the image purchased with private funds and not with tax money. This is a petty
quarrel over the custody of a saint’s image and there is no question that the image belongs to
the barangay council. As the owner, it designated a layman as the custodian of the wooden
image in order to forestall any suspicion that it is favoring the Catholic church.Manifestly puerile
and flimsy is petitioners’ argument that the barangay council favored the Catholic religion by
using the funds raised by solicitations and donations for the purchase of the patron saint’s
wooden image and making the image available to the Catholic church. The wooden image was
purchased in connection with the celebration of the barrio fiesta honoring the patron saint, San
Vicente Ferrer, and not for the purpose of favoring any religion nor interfering with religious
matters or the religious beliefs of the barrio residents. One of the highlights of the fiesta was the
mass. Consequently, the image of the patron saint had to be placed in the church when the
mass was celebrated.

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