Posted by frenchie
Josephine Villanueva
CFO Agana Archdiocese
Was one of two witnesses to be heard that afternoon.
Following his now well oiled set of questionnaire, Mr Caldie the lead counsel for the "Creditors", helped by his eager , yet much less pleasant assistant Mr Drew Glasovich, established the identity and responsibilities of Mrs Villanueva, by drumming in his boring but efficient sets of documents, which are then accepted as exhibits.
Mrs Villanueva was presented a series of documents, letters and memorandum, about Our Lady of the blessed Sacrament bank accounts and a couple of condos in Taigaitai (Phillipines) which were not in the original schedule of bankruptcy, or even in the first amended schedule, but were presented at a later date.
It appear that Mr Glasovich was inferring a dishonest filing by the Chancery, asking on several occasion if there were other "hidden" asset. To which Mrs Villanueva answered : "not to my knowledge"
This showed us that the lawyers for the creditors have a very superficial understanding of the damage the AAA administration (specially under Vicar General Adrian Cristobal) had actually done, and how they hid many things from the public at large, but also from the Clergy, religious, and councils supposed to oversee these matter.
Mr Glasovich continued by revisiting some testimonies already approached during the examination of Fr Gofigan. Then the conversation moved to overseeing parishes bank accounts and schools.
There were more identifications of documents to be filed as exhibits, followed by questions regarding a uniform accounting system, human resources, Payroll, and financial reporting to the Nuncio.
Both the Judge and Mr Glasovich did not have a clue of who and what the office of Nuncio is, and when they questionned Mrs Villanueva she gave a very uneducated and innacurate answer. Mr Glasovich understanding rapidly that he might have opened a door on Canon Law, quickly brushed over the issue.
At this time there were over 50 people who had joined the hearing on Zoom, including many clergy, religious and survivors.
Despite his monotone and at times soporiphic delivery Mr Glasovich was able to hammer away at the notion that the system put in place by Mrs Villanueva and Archbishop Byrnes was in fact a detailed control of both the schools and the parishes. A very ironic situation brought on by the bankruptcy filing which is putting the Chancery in a situation of damm if you do, damm if you don't.
The relentless questions about collections, parish membership, visiting other parishes, attendance, demonstrated a deep lack of knowledge about Catholic faith and practices, yet they also establish their notion that the Archdiocese is one.
Of course this notion of one, which is a spiritual, even esoteric notion, is totally perverted by the plaintiffs representatives for civil reasons.
Despite the plaintiffs lawyers being adamant about not dwelling in Canon Law, they continuously venture in that domain, without any challenge from the defense.
Cross examination was done by Mr Bruce Anderson, who deflected most of the objections from the plaintiffs. The exchanges were at time very tasty and you could really sense the irritation in the voice of Mr Caldie, when the judge overruled his objections repeatedly.
Mr Anderson was very efficient in his cross, establishing that there was no take over of the Basilica administration by the Chancery, that the Archbishop does not manage the parishes and/or the Schools
Mr Anderson also covered very effectively the issues of Donations, pledges and 2nd collections.
The redirect by the plaintiffs was done after another recess.
We experienced more tech issues in the afternoon which led to delays and frustrations.
The last witness for the afternoon was Sister Angela Perez of Our Lady of Guam Academy
Again the same set of questions were asked to Sister Angela, regarding administration, documents, bank accounts and hierarchy.
The examination then moved on to the inane questions about parish she attend, if she gives to collections, until Sr Angela told Mr Caldie that as a religious who give their lives to God often with no compensation, they were not in the habit of giving to collection. At that time it seems to down on Mr Caldie that this line of robotic questions was not applicable, and after trying two more times to redirect these questions he stopped by saying " this is not applicable sorry".
A short cross by Mrs Diaz, followed by a very short redirect ended the day, with both parties being far apart as the acceptability of some of the written deposition of Sister Angela.
Judge ruled to clarify on Wednesday
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