Clergy under attack

In the not so recent past, three Catholic priests were murdered.

First to fall was retired 72-year-old Fr. Marcelito Paez, an activist cleric assigned in Jaen, Nueva Ecija after dropping off a political detainee who was just released; he was gunned down on December 5, 2017.

Four months later, Fr. Mark Ventura, a known anti-mining activist, was killed by a gun-man inside a gymnasium after saying Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan province on April 29, 2018. Last June 10, 2018, Fr. Richmond Nilo, while preparing to celebrate the Mass, was shot through a window at a chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.

In Davao region, where insurgents were known to operate extensively during Martial Law, only one priest was killed, though there was a string of murders committed against secular priests who completed their priesthood at Davao’s only major Catholic seminary.

The near-immaculate slate against priests being killed, in a way, could be attributed to the support many religious men and nuns clandestinely extended to the underground movement.

On March 19, 1987, after attending a conference held in a village in Mawab, Compostela Valley, Fr. Roberto Salac, who graduated from St. Francis Regional Major Seminary (Remase) at Catalunan Grande, Davao City, was attacked by unidentified Army servicemen while with fellow peace process advocates. He died due to blood loss.

Two years later, Fr. Rudy Tulibas, an alumnus of Remase then assigned with the prelature of Digos City, was held hostage on November 18, 1989 at the San Roque Parish in Manila, by a project contractor renovating the church. Along with the parish priest, he was held hostage for seven hours until law enforcers convinced the suspect he would meet Jaime Cardinal Sin.

On February 26, 1991, Fr. Alejandrino Abing of Davao City, while on his way to visit his sick father on Siquijor Province, was shot dead in Cebu City. Reports said he was slain for giving “invocations during Alsa Masa (anti-communist vigilante group) meetings in Davao.”

That same year, on November 14, 1991, Fr. Nerlito Satur, another Remase graduate assigned in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, and an anti-logging crusader, was shot dead by armed men in Guinoyoran, Bukidnon, on board his motorcycle after attending a village fiesta.

Six years later, 81-year-old Fr. Paul Finster, a Jesuit, was held hostage on November 21, 1995, and stabbed inside the Ma-a Rehabilitation Center, Davao City, while preparing for his Sunday Mass. The inmate wanted the priest as cover for his escape, but the other prisoners, irate at seeing the priest injured, pounced the attacker and restrained him.

But the list of priests placed under duress is expansive.

This includes Fr. Tullio Favali, an Italian Catholic missionary murdered by armed paramilitary during Martial Law in April 1985 in Tulunan, Cotabato; Fr. Rudy Romano who was abducted and killed by armed men in July 1985 in Barangay Tisa, Cebu.; Bishop Benjamin de Jesus, who was shot dead in February 1997 in Jolo, Sulu; and Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, killed around May 2000, who died from torture and maltreatment during detention in Jolo.

There was Fr. Benjamin Inocenci, killed December 2000 in Jolo; Fr. Rufus Halley, killed August 2001 in Mindanao; Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio, an Italian priest –gunned down early dawn on October 17, 2011 outside his parish convent in Arakan, North Cotabato; and Fr. Richmond Nilo, shot and killed June 10, 2018 as he was about to celebrate Mass in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.

This reminds us of a quote from Luke 9:23, which goes: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” The same challenge is hurled by Jesus Christ in Matthew 16:24 and Mark 8:34. This guiding principle, amazingly, has become of the torch why the priestly vocation has been on a dramatic rise.