Priest mistaken for transporting a "salvaged man"

KIDAPAWAN CITY  – A Catholic priest has claimed that a police officer suspected him of transporting a salvage victim while driving from Digos City to Kidapawan City on Monday.

In his social media post, Fr. Jonel Peroy of the Diocese of Kidapawan said he was driving home from Digos City where he picked up a statue of the dead body of Jesus Christ.

“Funny experience this morning,” he diocesan priest said.

He picked up in Digos City a human-sized statue of the dead Christ (Santo Entierro) for the Holy Week celebration in Kidapawan.

At one police checkpoint, he was asked by a police officer to disembark from his pick-up vehicle so they can conduct plain view inspection.

He continued by sharing a conversation between him and a police officer along one of the checkpoints along the Digos-Kidapawan highway:

Cop: It appeared you are transporting a dead person! It looks like a wrapped dead body of a person.

Peroy: Sir, I am bringing with me the dead body of Christ.

The priest said he perspired while trying to explain to every checkpoint that what he was transporting was a statue and not a real dead man wrapped in plastic.

Peroy said he was forced to unwrap the plastic cover to show the statue and he introduced himself that he was a priest “so there will be no more questions.”

“Father, our apologies, we thought you have salvaged a man,” the police officer said.

As the priest drove toward Kidapawan, he posted on his FB page his experience and captioned: “Murag kriminal na diay ko'g dagway (Do I look like a criminal?”

He also shared the images of “Santo Entierro.”

“The police are just doing their job,” he said.