ILLUSTRATION BY RENE ELEVERA
Even faced with the most difficult of circumstances, Claretian missionary priest Rhoel Gallardo chose to look after the welfare of others, even if it meant risking his life.
This was made apparent during a 43-day ordeal as one of the 70 hostages of the bandit group Abu Sayyaf in the mountains of Basilan province 21 years ago. The captives included teachers and students of Claret School and nearby schools in the village of Tumahubong in Sumisip town.
While in captivity in the jungles of Mt. Punoh Mahadji, Gallardo took every opportunity to ask his captors about the female teachers when they were separated from the male captives.
“Father Rhoel knew that they were more vulnerable,” said Fr. Elias Ayuban Jr., superior of the Claretian missionaries in the Philippines-Australia-Vietnam-Myanmar province.
“But every time he would inquire about their situation, the Abu Sayyaf bandits would punish him,” Ayuban recalled.
The harm would not deter Gallardo from looking after the female teachers.
“In times of danger and crisis, he was a true shepherd searching for his flock,” Ayuban said.
Cause for beatification
In celebration of his extraordinary trait as a religious, the Claretian missionaries have opened a cause for Gallardo’s beatification as a martyr of the Catholic Church. Beatification is the process that leads to the declaration of the candidate as Blessed.
The cause was launched on May 3 at the St. Vincent Ferrer church in Tumahubong, where Gallardo served as parish priest, to commemorate the 21st anniversary of his death.
Residents gathered for the occasion. Although toned down by health protocols, the gathering was festive as the faithful recalled the life and times of Gallardo in Tumahubong.
Isabela Bishop Leo Dalmao, also a Claretian religious, formally opened the cause for Gallardo’s martyrdom, with Rome-based Fr. Krzysztof Gierat, the general postulator for the causes of saints of the Claretian missionaries, serving as postulator (a person who presents the case for beatification in the Roman Catholic Church). Another Claretian, Fr. Efren Limpo, will serve as vice postulator.
“Martyrdom is a gift given to those who are worthy in the eyes of God. It could have occurred to any of us who were the young missionaries then, but it was given to Father Rhoel because, in hindsight, he was the most prepared to receive the crown,” Ayuban said.
“Martyrdom is a gift of God for the whole Church … We join in fervent prayer that our brother and friend, servant of God Fr. Rhoel Gallardo, will, one day, be counted among the martyrs and saints of our mother Church: a martyr for peace!”
Abu Sayyaf attack
Before the solemn Mass and the ensuing festivity, community folk offered flowers at the marker built in Gallardo’s honor last year at the plaza, just a short distance from the chapel.
“They were excited to pay homage to the priest who devoted his life to the people,” said Tumahubong parish priest Arvin Bellen.
“Actually, it was not just a Tumahubong celebration, all the parishioners joined, the communities prepared, it was festive. We had a solemn Mass for Father Gallardo and the whole world, or the people who knew [him], joined us in this celebration through video,” Bellen told the Inquirer.
Ordained in 1994, Gallardo was just six years into the priesthood in 2000 when he was abducted as he was overseeing the parish of Tumahubong, a multiethnic and multireligious community that hosts a large rubber plantation.
On March 20 that year, Abu Sayyaf bandits barged into the Claret School compound where the Claret mission house, where Gallardo lives, is also located.
A day earlier, word had circulated that armed men were gathering near the school compound.
The hostages were taken to Punoh Mahadji. On May 3, 2000, the captives were taken out of the jungle, after several nights of walking, supposedly for transfer to Sulu province.
But the military was able to catch up with the bandits and rescue the hostages. Gallardo, three teachers and five students were later found dead.
The 34-year-old priest bore three bullet wounds, fired at close range. His body also showed signs of torture, like his nails being removed.
Exemplary life
“We are not here to celebrate his death,” Ayuban told the Tumahubong faithful. “We are here to celebrate his exemplary life to honor it.”
Ayuban urged the faithful to join him in remembering Gallardo’s four exemplary acts that made him a “martyr of our times.”
These, he said, included Gallardo’s life of sacrifices and renunciations; his share of sufferings beginning from his life as a seminarian and student of theology to his work as a missionary; his life of constant search for God and his people; and finally, his complete surrender to God.
“He sacrificed when he renounced the possibility of forming a family of his own, and when he let go of the chance of [pursuing] a lucrative career,” Ayuban said.
He said Gallardo was a man of few words, one who kept his sufferings to himself.
“He kept many things to himself that at times, he was misunderstood by a few because of this low-key personality,” Ayuban said. “He suffered during the days of his captivity, the endless walk [when they were pursued by the military], deprived of food and sleep. Stories are told that his captors plucked out the nails [from his fingers and toes]. He suffered as he was hit by three bullets in his back until he breathed his last,” Ayuban said.
Finally, his surrender, but not to the forces of evil, he added.
“He surrendered to the hands of God. He was asked to renounce his faith but he refused,” Ayuban said.
Community support
Even Adnan Hataman, the Muslim mayor of Sumisip, supported the Catholic priest’s beatification as a martyr.
“Both Muslims and Christians in my town speak highly of Father Rhoel,” said Hataman, who was still a child when that violent episode happened in his hometown. “He was the kindest person they met. He touched so many lives not just in Christian-dominated villages like Manggal and Tumahubong, but also in Muslim-dominated communities,” he recalled.
Basilan Rep. Mujiv Hataman, a native of Sumisip town, was in his 20s when the incident happened. He recalled how Muslims and Christians lived peacefully in those days.
“We owe our peace today to the life and sacrifices of Fr. Rhoel Gallardo,” Rep. Hataman said.
“He sacrificed his life for our own people. He endured hardships in the hands of these bandits. Being a Muslim, we are joining hands with the Christian communities to honor and support the beatification. Father Rhoel is our inspiration to make us more determined to end terrorism in the province,” he added.
Bellen said a lot of transformation had already taken place in Basilan since the violence wrought by the Abu Sayyaf in the 1990s and the early 2000s. “But there are still threats around,” he said.
“Being in the same spot where Father Rhoel was, all we have is the love of the people, the strength of the community to continue what he started,” Bellen said.