Indonesian Catholic priest shot dead in Kalinga province

By Ronron
April 2, 2007

An Indonesian Catholic priest was shot dead on Sunday afternoon in Kalinga province in the northern Philippines by a locale for a still unknown reason.

Police identified the victim as Fr. Franciscos Madhu, 31, native of Flores, Indonesia, and assistant parish priest of St. Paul and St. Peter Parishes in Kalinga.

According to a police report, Madhu was first seen having a heated argument with suspected gunman Nestor Wailan before he was shot at around 5:30 pm last Sunday at the Mabungtot Primary School in Lubuagan town.

Police though has yet to ascertain what the argument was all about.

Wailan, a resident of Sitio Dugnac, Barangay Antonio Canao in Lubuagan, used an M16 rifle in shooting Madhu at close range.

Madhu sustained five gunshot wounds in the stomach, causing his instantaneous death.

Wailan then escaped with three companions, two of whom were identified as Joel Awingan and Acmor Bonggawon.

“It was later learned that the suspects were under the influence of liquor,” a police report said.

Responding policemen recovered from the crime scene six empty shells of caliber 5.56.

Philippine National Police (PNP) Task Force USIG Commander Chief Supt. Geary Barias said the TF USIG in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) was immediately alerted “to possibly intercept the suspects.”

“They are now the subjects of a region-wide manhunt operation being carried out by tracker teams from the regional intelligence community of Police Regional Office Cordillera,” Barias said.

“We are considering the option to widen the dragnet operations to Regions I and II to get the suspects,” he added.

Barias said the investigation on the incident is headed by the Regional TF USIG, supported by the Kalinga Police Provincial Office, the Cordillera Criminal Investigation and Detection Office, the Crime Laboratory, and the Regional Intelligence Office.

The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, thru the local diocese in Cordillera, as well as the Indonesian Embassy in Manila were already informed of the incident, said Barias.

“I assure both the CBCP and the Indonesia Embassy of swift police action to solve the case, arrest the perpetrators, and serve the ends of justice to the late Fr. Madhu,” said Barias, who also heads the PNP Directorate for Investigative and Detective Management.

TF USIG was created in May last year to investigate killings of activists, journalists, and government employees./DMS