Alleged mastermind, gunman, others charged in priest’s slay

CRIME SUSPECTS PNP Director General Oscar Albayalde presents the suspects in the killing of Fr. Richmond Nilo and explains how officers traced the car used in the crime during press briefing at Camp Crame. —JAM STA. ROSA

CABANATUAN CITY—The suspected mastermind, gunman and their accomplices in the June 10 murder of Fr. Richmond Nilo in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija province, have been charged with murder.

The Nueva Ecija Prosecutor’s Office filed the murder complaints against Manuel Torres, Omar Mallari, Rolly Sigua, Bernie Limpio, Arlan Maniacup Sr., Michael Ocampo, Marius Albis and Ronaldo Garcia at a Regional Trial Court here for the killing of Nilo as he prepared for a Mass at Barangay Mayamot in Zaragoza town.

In the complaint, Torres was identified as the man who ordered Nilo’s killing.

Mallari, the self-confessed gunman, told police that Torres hired him to kill Nilo because “the priest supported a rape case against his (Torres) nephew,” according to Chief Supt. Amador Corpus, Central Luzon police director.

Torres was subsequently arrested. In a confession he made in the presence of his mother and a lawyer from the Public Attorney’s Office, Torres named his other accomplices who acted as backup gunmen and lookouts. —ANSELMO ROQUE