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Help needed for late pastor’s return to RP
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Posted on Feb 01 2006
God’s Victorious Army, a small 12-year-old Christian church in the CNMI, is seeking the community’s assistance in repatriating their late pastor’s body back to the Philippines.
Robert Perez, a member of the religious sect, said Pastor Augusto Villa, 54, passed away last Jan. 30. Villa, he said, died in his sleep. His lifeless body was discovered by one of the church members inside his room.
The pastor was immediately brought to the Commonwealth Health Center, where he was declared dead on arrival.
Immanuel Methodist Church Pastor Jim Sembrano, who is Villa’s close friend, said Villa’s remains remains at the hospital due to lack of funds.
Sembrano said that, since Villa was a missionary with an accompanying missionary resident status in the CNMI, he doesn’t have any employer who would take care of the hospital bills. Sembrano said Villa also didn’t receive any salary as a pastor when he was alive.
Sembrano said God’s Victorious Army has been trying to raise funds for the late pastor but it is still not enough to pay for the hospital bills and the repatriation of his remains to his hometown in Romblon, Philippines.
He said the local funeral service initially asked the church for $10,000 to cover the funeral service for the pastor but due to God’s Victorious Army’s limited resources, the company lowered the asking price to $4,700. The fee already includes the transportation of the body to Manila.
“Still the church won’t be able to afford the service,” Sembrano said, adding that there would be added costs to Villa’s return to the Philippines because, from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, the body has to be flown south to Romblon where his child and wife would receive him.
Perez said one of their church members went to the Philippine Consulate Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, but was turned down due to Villa’s failure to pay his OWWA dues, which would cover assistance to Filipino nonresident workers who would need assistance.
God’s Victorious Army, with only 40 current members, is currently holding nightly prayer services at their Susupe church. Perez said those who want to help the late pastor may contact the church at 235-9246.
