Fr. Nilo’s killers arrested

A businessman who fumed over the botched dream of his nephew to become a priest was tagged as the mastermind behind the killing of Father Richmond Nilo who was gunned down inside a chapel in Nueva Ecija.

Director General Oscar Albayalde, chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said that businessman is Manuel Torres who was tagged by

two suspects who surrendered to the police as the one who sought their service to kill Father Nilo for 1100,000.

Torres and the alleged gunman Omar Mallari were arrested in two separate follow-up operations following the confessions made by Rolando Garcia and Marius Albis.

Albayalde disclosed that it all started when a seminarian identified as Christopher Torres was charged for allegedly sexually abusing four minor altar servers of Father Nilo.

“It was Father Nilo who helped the victims in pressing charges against the seminarian which include a case of rape,” said Albayalde.

The sexual abuse occurred last year as well as the filing of charges. And this did not sit well with Manuel Torres, the police investigators claimed.

“As a result, 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,” said Albayalde who said that Torres and Garcia are close friends.

Garcia, with the help of Albis, was able to contact Mallari whom the police said was the one who executed the assassination plan against Father Nilo on June 10 while the priest was preparing to celebrate mass in Cabanatuan City.

Accordingly, Torres allegedly gave 140,000 as initial payment and paid another 1 0,000 after the killing. He has yet to pay the balance of 120,000.

Vehicle was key Director RoelObusan, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), said a burned vehicle part became a key in tracking down the suspects.

The burned vehicle part, according to Obusan, belonged to a Nissan Sentra which was used by the alleged gunman as a getaway car.

Police investigators said the car was originally owned by a woman and was sold several times.

“Using the deed of sales for the same vehicle, we found out that the last owner of that car is Omar Mallari,” said Obusan.

They then traced Mallari in Arayat, Pampanga on June 22. Mallari initially denied his involvement but allegedly admitted later that he was the gunman.

The case against Mallari was further bolstered after Garcia and Albis who contacted him surrendered and squealed his name and that of Manuel Torres.

Fall guy

Initially, police have arrested Adel Roll Milan and tagged him as the gunman. Police also claimed that Milan is a drug surrenderee and allegedly a known hitman.

But Milan denied the allegations and even showed proof that he was not in the area where the priest was killed at the time of the killing. He was later ordered released by a local court for lack of evidence.

Albayalde said they only arrested Milan since he was the one identified by an altar boy who witnessed the killing as the gunman.

“If you would look at the sketch, Milan and Mallari have similarities,” said Albayalde.

Albayalde said they are still conducting follow-up operations against the other suspects who participated in the planning and killing of Father Nilo.

Nilo was the third priest killed in the country in the last seven months – the first was Father Mark Ventura in Cagayan on April 29, and Father MarcelitoPaez, also from NueveEcija in December last year.

It will be recalled that Albayalde and other top officials of the PNP held a meeting with officials of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines to stress that there is no pattern in the killing of the priests.