MANILA, March 2, 2016— The Salesians in the Philippines disowned a suspected illegal drug trafficker who introduced himself as a missionary priest of the congregation.
Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB, said that a certain “Father” John Ferolin who was nabbed on Monday for possession of “shabu” in Midsayap, North Cotabato is not a Salesian priest.
“There is no such priest or missionary from among our remaining foreign missionaries, and no Filipino Salesian goes by that name,” Dimaranan, rector of Don Bosco Technical College in Mandaluyong said.
The suspect is currently detained at the Midsayap municipal police.
“And no, we have no missionary outpost or work in North Cotabato. Above all, we Salesians do not work alone. We always work as a community. This is a poseur and a dangerous one at that,” Dimaranan added.
In other news reports, Ferolin has also claimed to be a priest of the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines (MOP), a personal diocese for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
However, the chancery of the MOP said that Ferolin is also not a military priest.
There is also no priest identified as John Ferolin in the 2015 Catholic Directory of the Philippines. (CBCPNews)
