Philippine authorities said Wednesday they are looking for a parish priest who allegedly damaged part of a historic cemetery chapel in search of treasure.Father Nelson Silvela, parish priest of the town of San Joaquin in the central island of Panay, vanished after the arrest of 10 men he allegedly hired to dig up the chapel known as the ‘Camposanto’, said Mayor Eduardo Servidad.

“We consider the Camposanto a holy place and we did not expect a priest like him to do a thing like this,” he told AFP.

The men had dug a hole about 18 meters (60 feet) long which had weakened the structure of the chapel located at the centre of the cemetery built in 1892, the mayor said.The cemetery and chapel, famous for its oriental baroque architecture and ornate carvings, were declared a “national cultural treasure” in 2015 and have long been a tourist attraction. And it is not to be used as place in searching for a treasure.

The 10 men, armed with tools, a metal detector and a water pump. Then it was undentified that it was the Priest there who told them to do it.