Priest slay mastermind falls as gunman confesses

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities have arrested the alleged mastermind and the gunman in the murder of Catholic priest Richmond Nilo, the Philippine National Police (PNP) announced yesterday.

PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said that self-confessed gunman Omar Mallari and alleged mastermind Manuel Torres were collared in separate operations.

Police said two other accomplices in the murder, identified as Rolando Garcia and Marius Albis, voluntarily surrendered.

Torres reportedly hired Mallari to kill Nilo in exchange for P100,000. He was arrested on June 25 in Barangay Manaol, Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija.

Mallari, Garcia and Albis confessed to the killing and pointed to Torres as the mastermind.

Nilo was shot dead as he was preparing to celebrate mass in a chapel in Zaragoza town on June 10.

Albayalde said the arrest and surrender of the suspects will not stop the PNP from continuing with the investigation until justice is served for Nilo.

“We have not closed the investigation, that is why we now have this positive development that led to the arrest of two suspects, including the alleged gunman, and voluntary surrender of two other suspects,” Albayalde said during a press conference at Camp Crame.

Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Roel Obusan said Torres blamed Nilo for the failure of his seminarian-nephew, Christopher Torres, to realize his dream of becoming a priest.

Obusan said Nilo reportedly urged and aided three altar servers to file sexual abuse charges, including rape, against Christopher.

He said Torres’ link to the priest’s murder was backed by the extrajudicial confessions of Garcia and Albis, who surrendered to the police upon learning of Mallari’s arrest.

Garcia and Albis said Torres allegedly sought their services to kill Nilo for P100,000.?Garcia alleged that Torres contacted him to look for a hired killer and commissioned Mallari to kill the priest.

Mallari was tracked down through the plate number of a vehicle used by the gunman in fleeing from the crime scene.

The Nissan Sentra (THB-437) was seen on footage of a closed circuit television camera installed in the area.?Police found out that the vehicle was torched and some of its parts were sold to a junk shop, whose owner pointed to Mallari as the source of the parts.?Mallari was arrested in Arayat, Pampanga on June 22. He initially denied involvement, but later admitted that he was the gunman.?“We checked on the records of the vehicle from the first owner to at least five others until we ended up with Mallari. When police operatives showed him pieces of evidence linking him to the murder, he admitted to being the gunman,” Obusan said.?The PNP released video footage showing Mallari confessing to the murder to a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office and during his inquest proceedings. 

Obusan said the pieces of evidence corroborated the confessions of Mallari, Garcia and Albis.?Motive??Albayalde said initial investigation indicated that Torres masterminded Nilo’s murder to get back at the priest.

“It was Fr. Nilo who helped the altar servers press charges, including rape, against the seminarian,” Albayalde said.?The sexual abuse allegedly occurred in 2017 and charges were filed and dismissed in the same year, according to Central Luzon police director Chief Supt. Amado Corpus.

“Manuel Torres got mad because his nephew Christopher Torres was not able to become a priest because of the charges. And he contacted Rolando Garcia to find a gunman,” Albayalde said.?Probers said Torres and Garcia are close friends. Garcia, with the help of Albis, contacted Mallari to kill Nilo.?Corpus said Mallari received P40,000 in initial payment and another P40,000 after the killing. The balance of P20,000 has yet to be paid.

He could not say who actually handed the money to Mallari.?Off the hook? ?With the confessions of Mallari, Garcia and Albis, the PNP released Adel Roll Milan, initially identified and arrested as Nilo’s killer.

Albayalde said Milan is now off the hook. He showed photos of Milan and Mallari as well as the computer-generated sketch of the gunman.

He said the resemblance between the two could have prompted the witness, an altar server, to point to Milan as the alleged gunman.

“The mistake was not on the part of the police but on the testimony of the altar server who mistook Milan for Mallari,” Albayalde said.?Police are still conducting follow-up operation against the other suspects in Nilo’s murder.

Nilo was the third priest to be killed in the country since December. The two others were Fr. Mark Ventura in Cagayan on April 29 and Fr. Marcelito Paez, also from Nueva Ecija, in December.?Albayalde and other PNP officials met with officials of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) to assure them that the police are doing everything to give justice to the slain priests.

“We assured the CBCP that there is no pattern in the murders of the priest… that the priests were not targeted… the murders were not connected,” Albayalde said.