Archbishop Jose Palma to give help to family of slain man

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma would provide assistance to the family of the man gunned down inside the Archbishop’s Residence compound in Cebu City on July 10.

Msgr. Joseph Tan, media liaison officer of the Archdiocese of Cebu, said the 68-year-old prelate talked to the father of Jefrey Cañedo over the phone on Tuesday and promised to help the family.

“Archbishop Palma will offer assistance of whatever kind to the family, and there are also plans that he will visit the wake of Cañedo once he will return to Cebu,” he said.

Tan did not give details on the kind of assistance Palma would offer.

Palma is in Koronadal City, South Cotabato, to attend the episcopal ordination and installation of Bishop-elect Cerilo Casicas of Marbel today, July 18.

He was in Manila over the weekend for the 117th plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

Last Tuesday, Cañedo, 41, was gunned down by operatives of the Mobile Patrol Group, in what police said was a shootout inside the Archbishop’s Residence compound along D. Jakosalem Street in Cebu City past 11 a.m.

Cañedo, a former Overseas Filipino Worker, reportedly wanted to talk to Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma to get an advice about his troubled marriage.

While on his way out of the compound, Cañedo, who had a gun tucked on his waist, was met by policemen who were alerted by employees of the archdiocese.

Cañedo allegedly refused to talk to the police and instead decided to shoot it out with the operatives.

Policemen were deployed at the Archbishop’s Residence following the shooting incident.

Tan said it’s up to Palma to decide whether or not to agree to proposals to give him police bodyguards.