FALLEN SHEPHERD Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud, surrounded by clergymen, sprinkle holy water on the casket of Fr. Richmond Nilo during a funeral Mass on June 16, 2018, for the 44-year-old priest who was gunned down inside a chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija. Thousands of mourners in black attire or wearing black armbands joined the funeral march in Cabanatuan City.
INQUIRER file photo / ARMAND GALANG
The suspect who was arrested and later released in connection with the murder of Father Richmond Nilo said on Friday he will no longer pursue a case against the policemen who mistakenly arrested him.
“Diretsuhin ko na po kayo. Hindi ko na po maisip na magsampa ng kaso. Syempre po, para sa pamilya ko, sa sarili ko na rin,” Adel Milan, who was wrongly tagged as the suspect in the priest’s killing, said in a press conference.
(I will be straight to the point. I have not thought of filing a case. Of course, for my family, and for myself as well.)
READ: PNP frees suspect in Fr. Nilo slay case
“Pinili ko na ring manahimik na lang, maging maayos, makalabas, walang iniisip na kung ano. Siguro pamilya ko na rin ang unang inisip ko,” he added.
(I chose instead to be silent, to be meek, to be able to go around, with nothing to think about. Maybe I thought first about my family.)
Milan was arrested by the police days after the death of Father Nilo in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija on June 10. He was identified as the gunman by an altar boy at the church where the priest was about to hold mass prior to the murder.
Milan, however, denied he was mistreated by the police.
“Wala naman po, maayos naman po [Nothing, all’s well],” he said when asked if the policemen did anything wrong to him during his detention.
“Wala naman po talaga kasi akong kasalanan (I really don’t have anything to do with this),” he further said.
Meanwhile, Milan’s lawyer Larry Gadon called on authorities to be more careful about tagging random people in such crimes.
“Nananawagan kami sa mga pulis, next time ay mag ingat sila sa pag-gawa ng konklusyon kung sino yung mga suspects,” he said.
(We call on the police that next time, they should be careful in making conclusions on who they think the suspects are.)
“Kung nag-tanong tanong lang sila muna sana eh dapat hindi na siguro nagkaroon ng pagkakamali. Hindi na sana nagkaroon ng paghuli ng isang mistaken identity,” Gadon stressed.
(If they just asked then that mistake should have been prevented. There should not have been a mistaken identity.)
Several days after Milan’s arrest, the Philippine National Police released him and identified another suspect as the uncle of an altar server. The priest reportedly sued him for abuse against other altar servers in the church.
The killing was allegedly done by the group of Omar Lumbang Mallari, alias “Bulik,” the alleged gunman who was also captured by authorities. /jpv
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