Philippine National Police chief Dir. Gen. Oscar D. Albayalde.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
No less than the Philippine National Police (PNP) chief dismissed statements by political operator Pastor “Boy” Saycon linking Church leaders to a supposed destabilization plot against President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a press conference on Friday following a meeting with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said the problem being alleged by Saycon “does not exist” and that “we have zero information on that.”
Albayalde said that the CBCP leadership had likewise denied the allegation, and said that “it did not even cross their minds.”
“It’s an abstract issue. We did not even talk about it,” Albayalde said.
Albayalde had met with the CBCP to give updates on the killings of three clergymen in the past six months alone.
Albayalde said so far, the killings were “not related” with each other and there was “no apparent pattern” among them. “The priests are not targets here,” Albayalde said.
The latest of the killings was that of Fr. Richmond Nilo on June 10. Incidentally on Friday, a Cabanatuan court ordered the release of Adell Roll Milan, earlier arrested as the primary suspect in Nilo’s slay.
READ: PNP frees suspect in Fr. Nilo say case
Regional Trial Court Branch 27 Judge Angelo C. Perez directed the withdrawal of the case filed by the police, granting a motion filed by the provincial prosecutor’s office after investigators tagged a new arrested suspect, Omar Mallari, as Nilo’s killer.
Albayalde said the police continues to conduct follow-up investigations on the case, and that Milan’s innocence or guilt was “up to the appreciation of the court.” /jpv