{"id":29161,"date":"2018-06-12T08:18:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T08:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=29161"},"modified":"2018-06-12T09:55:24","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T09:55:24","slug":"philippines-third-priest-shot-in-six-months-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/06\/12\/philippines-third-priest-shot-in-six-months-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"PHILIPPINES: Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months &#8211; ACN Malta"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">PHILIPPINES<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday 10 June, Fr Richmond Nilo was shot while he was about to celebrate Mass in the chapel of Brgy. Mayamot in\u00a0 Zaragoza &#8211; the third priest to be murdered in recent months. Fr\u00a0Nilo was the parish priest of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in Zaragoza town and also the Financial Administrator of the Diocese of Cabanatuan. Aside from serving in these vital roles, he was also known for his active involvement in the apostolate for the deaf and mute in the diocese.<\/p>\n<p>Archbishop Romulo Valles, president of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines, described the killing of Fr Nilo as nothing but an \u201coutrageously evil act.\u201d He added, \u201cWe make our appeal once again to the police authorities to act swiftly in the investigation and to go after the perpetrators of this heinous crime and bring them to justice.\u201d The archbishop lamented that the recent attacks against priests were happening in the Year of the Clergy and Consecrated Persons.<\/p>\n<p>Fr Nilo was killed just four days after Fr Rey Urmeneneta,\u00a0 a 64 year old Catholic priest at St. Michael the Archangel Parish, survived an assassination attempt in Calamba City, about 25 miles from the capital Manila. He was in his car with his secretary Remedios de Belen on his way to a church meeting on 6 June when two gunmen shot him at about 9:40 am. Fr Urmeneta was wounded in his left upper back and left arm. He was rushed to the hospital, where he is reported to be in a stable condition. Police have started an investigation to determine the motive for the attack on the priest who once served as chaplain of the Philippine National Police. Fr Urmeneta told police that the incident may have something to do with people who owed him money.<\/p>\n<p>Fr Urmeneta is the fourth priest to be shot since December. Less than two months ago in April, Fr Mark Ventura of Gattaran in the northern Philippines was killed by a lone gunman after celebrating Sunday Mass. On 4 Dec 2017 Fr Marcelito Paez was shot and killed in the town of Jaen, about 70 miles north of Manila after visiting a jail to help free a political prisoner. Faith-based social development network Philippine Misereor Partnership Inc. (PMPI) issued a statement in May about the deaths of the priests who were known to be human rights defenders. The group said the Church, \u201cdespite many internal odds and challenges,\u201d has been a \u201cconsistent moral compass\u201d for past leaders and governments. \u201cWe can\u2019t help but ask, is this the way to silence critical voices of a sector that can potentially challenge and oppose the rules and policies of those in power?\u201d they said in the statement.<\/p>\n<p>Yoly Esguerra, PPI&#8217;s coordinator, commented on the \u201csenseless\u201d killing of Fr Ventura: \u201cTo kill a priest who has chosen to live a life with simple people in distant and forgotten places to make up for the lack of government presence in the area is preposterous.\u201d The Philippines is becoming an increasingly dangerous country for priests and anyone who dares to speak out against injustice. Global Witness, a London-based human rights organization, said the Philippines was the second deadliest country for activists in 2017. Philippine human rights groups said the killing of priests and the attacks on human rights defenders in the country have become \u201ca source of our deep concern.\u201d<\/p>\n<h5><\/h5>\n<h5><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>ACN Malta<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PHILIPPINES Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months &nbsp; On Sunday 10 June, Fr Richmond Nilo was shot while he was about to celebrate Mass in the chapel of Brgy. Mayamot in\u00a0 Zaragoza &#8211; the third priest to be murdered in recent months. Fr\u00a0Nilo was the parish priest of St. Vincent Ferrer Parish in&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29163,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>PHILIPPINES: Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/06\/12\/philippines-third-priest-shot-in-six-months-acn-malta\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PHILIPPINES: Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months - ACN Malta - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PHILIPPINES Third priest killed\u00a0and another shot in six months &nbsp; On Sunday 10 June, Fr Richmond Nilo was shot while he was about to celebrate Mass in the chapel of Brgy. 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