Some supporters of the family of Ellah Joy Pique complained they were harassed by allies of murder suspect Bella Ruby Santos.
Brother Simon Peter Jardinico of the Franciscan Friars of Charity (FFC) said he was confronted by a woman supporter of Santos who demanded that he should stay neutral as a member of a religious group.
Brother Jardinico and his fellow FFC members wore red shirts emblazoned with the words “Justice for Ellah Joy” during Monday’s hearing of the kidnapping and homicide case.
The FFC brothers have been attending hearings.
“We respect their position but they must also respect ours. They are supporting the innocence of Bella Ruby, we are just calling for justice for Ella Joy,” Jardinico said.
He also said that Santos’s supporters took photos of him without permission.
“I told that person to erase the picture since he does not have my permission. What was he going to do with my image? Sell it?” he asked.
The FFC of Minglanilla has been supporting the family of 6-year-old Ella Joy since she disappeared in Feb. 8 last year and her body was found down a ravine in the town of Barili south Cebu.
The Franciscan Friars have held Masses and joined mass actions to show their support.
Ellah Joy was kidnapped while walking on her way home from school by a foreigner and a Filipina companion last Feb. 8, 2011.
The following day, her body was found at the foot of a ravine in Barili, south of Cebu.
Santos and her British boyfriend, Ian Charles Griffiths, have been tagged as the ones responsible for the girl’s death.
Santos was arrested in a mall in Manila in October last year while Griffiths is now wanted in the Interpol./Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus