By Adrian E. Cristobal
HE was probably mistaken for one of the bishops who reportedly received a monetary donation from a Malacañang religious adviser because of the black habit he wore when he stepped out a few yards from a BPI branch in Quezon City (where he had withdrawn P9,000) as a black Lancer whisked by and one of three hooded men pulled him to the car and demanded his money at the point of a gun. But Father Cleopas Santamaria is actually a Greek Orthodox monk, the only Filipino of the Eastern faith, rather poor, for the money had been sent by his father so he could fly to Cebu today to attend a friend’s wedding.
Father Cleopas had the scare of his life; the first thing that came to his mind was the Biblical phrase of death coming like a thief in the night, except that this time theft comes like death in daylight, as the holdup happened at ten-thirty on a Tuesday morning. He also realized that a man of the cloth is as fair a game as anyone else.
The curious thing is how holdup men materialized just moments after he had stepped out of the bank, to where he had gone after coming from the Cyprus consulate on Panay Avenue. The armed robbers knew that the Orthodox monk had money. The obvious explanation is that anyone coming out of a bank must have some money in him, and yet it could also be that he had gone there to deposit money.
Unless it was a stroke of luck on the part of the predators and of bad luck on the part of the priest, knowing one from the other (whether money was withdrawn or deposited) must be a product of good intelligence. A friend suggested that the hooded hoods in the black Lancer must have been tipped off by someone in the bank, though not necessarily an employee.
If he weren’t sailing for Cebu today, Father Cleopas could have been consoled with a collection at the Thursday Club where he once regaled denizens with his tenor di grazi.
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