Corpuz

 In 1994,  five months after I became born-again in Christ,  I met a man who was in prison and who made an impact in my early years as a Christian.  Before that,  I was a Catholic.  Baptized from birth and schooled in Catholic schools and universities.  But that was before I learned the Truth from the Bible,  on my own.

   This man was someone I met in our prison ministry visits,  and his name in prison was "Corpuz".  We were sent to the facility one Wednesday and we conducted worship services with a sharing of the Gospel at the end of the service.  Corpuz sat at the back with us ladies,  he was a short,  frail,  and seemingly harmless kind of convict.  His face was that of a broken man and he had a fresh scar on his throat.   I noticed that and it started our conversation.

"What happened to your neck?"  I asked inquisitively.

"I tried to commit suicide,  Ma'm"  He replied in a soft voice almost inaudible.

"Why? What's your case?"  I was nudged by my fellow sisters in the back pew for the rather intrusive questions I was firing away like a CNN reporter.  In prison,  that is usually the first "hello" question - "what is your case."

 "It is a long story Ma'm and I think we do not have enough time for me to tell you about it",  He said in a matter-of-fact way which was true because my companions were starting to pack up to leave.  Because I was so on fire to share the Gospel to him and tell him my story about how God changed me and the wonderful things He did for me,  quick thinking made me decide on some appropriate arrangements.

"Alright,  Sir - I will leave you a notebook and pen,  and give you my own Bible so you can write your story and give it to me the next time we meet,  that would be Wednesday."  I told him just as the coaster came to pick us up and they were being told to return to their quarters.  Corpuz took the things I gave him which were then inspected by the guards and I waved to him a friendly farewell.

That week I prayed for him and asked God for His Mercy on this wretched soul. There was something about him that drew compassion in me,  a sort of deep loss that was desperately crying out for relief.  When Wednesday came,  I was excited to go with the prison ministry team and meet with Corpuz for his story. As we sat in the usual seating assignment and the worship service began,  the prisoners started to line up and fill the front pews.  No Corpuz.

I was apprehensive and thought that maybe he tried suicide again and he succeeded in ending his life.  The service was good and inspiring but I heard only parts of it as my thoughts were occupied with the whereabouts of the convict I wanted to talk to.  As we started to board our vehicle,  a guard came over to me and handed me three sealed letters - they were from Corpuz.

The guard informed me that Corpuz was transferred to maximum security prison in Manila because his sentence was the death sentence (still enforced by law at that time).  I was more than saddened,  I feared for this man's life.  Yet in my heart there was something else that bothered me about him.

When I got home,  I opened the letters and read what Corpuz wrote.  He wrote the story in Tagalog but his handwriting showed he had some good education and could express himself logically.  He said he was a carpenter and an excellent one,  so he was hired by a wealthy Chinese in Manila together with other carpenters to work in his mansion.  There he met other carpenters who were from the city and their carefree,  immoral  lifestyle somehow influenced him.  Corpuz learned to drink and do drugs after work.  He stayed in his job for about four months while his family remained in the province.  He had a young wife and three daughters,  aged 14, 10, and 8.

After his brief stint in Manila,  Corpuz went back to his hometown.  It happened that his wife got ill and had to stay at the hospital for a few weeks.  The daughters stayed home with their father and went to school during the day.  That was the trap Corpuz fell into.  He had hidden his addictions well but now they were consuming him and his desires.  He took his eldest daughter and devoured her,  a father raping his own flesh and blood. 

The first incident followed many more,  and the young girl was not aware that she was going to bear the fruit of these encounters.  Corpuz was going to have a child from his own daughter.  Soon her body showed the evidence of incest - and her uncles found out.  Her mother's brothers managed to get the truth out of the young girl and planned to kill Corpuz for what he did.  One day while he was having a nap on the bamboo bed outside his garden,  the uncles came with a bolo and hit him on the throat. Corpuz was quick to run and hide in the sugar cane fields,  but soon police and dogs were hunting him and he was caught in due time.

It became clear that his scar was not from suicide after all.  The letters  also contained statements of remorse,  of inner suffering at what he had done,   no matter how late that sorrow was.  The daughters stood as witnesses against their father and the court handed down the sentence - death. 

In his letter,  Corpuz  asked God's forgiveness.  He was sorry not because he was caught but he was sorry he failed as a father,  and he failed God as a man.  He did not use the excuse of drugs or alcohol but he took responsibility for what he had done,  because it was his will to do it.  I did not have any communication with Corpuz after that but I prayed for his restoration.

After a year,  I received another letter from Corpuz coming from Manila.  He was able to send it to my home address which was written on the Bible I gave him.  He said his health had deteriorated and that he was suffering from tuberculosis and may not last long enough for his sentence.   He also said goodbye and thanked me for bringing God back into his life even in his last days on this earth.  He was at peace knowing he was forgiven.  He died three months before his sentence was to be done,  a man who lost his life only to regain it in the afterlife.

Corpuz reminded me of the thief on the Cross,  the one that Jesus Christ forgave and took with Him to Paradise.  A forgiven sinner who was the first to enter the kingdom before the prophets and the righteous people before him.

An anonymous writer once wrote:  "Our sins may be as big as the biggest ocean liner,  but God's forgiveness is as vast as the ocean that carries it." 

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;  a broken and contrite heart,  O God,  You will not despise."
(Psalm 51:17)

Author's Note

The convict that wrote his story died of illness while in prison. Social Services and Child Welfare took his daughter and had her baby adopted. The girl was sent to school and given college education together with her two sisters. The lesson here is the danger that drug addiction can bring to anyone.