Ex-priest shot dead in Bukidnon

COTABATO CITY, Philippines–An expelled priest in Bukidnon was shot dead Thursday by two armed men riding in tandem on a motorbike in Maramag town, police said.

Inspector Jiselle Lou Longgakit, Bukidnon police provincial office spokesperson, said defrocked Fr. Teresito M. Labastilla was shot dead in front of his eldest son at past 7 a.m. on a highway in Maramag town, Bukidnon.

Bystanders rushed Labastilla, 45, to the Bukidnon district hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by attending doctors, Longgakit told a radio station here.

“He was hit in the forehead by a bullet from a cal. 45 pistol,” Longgakit said.

Longgakit said Labastilla was standing on a road side waiting for a ride to his son’s school when two men, wearing ski masks arrived and shot the former priest in the forehead.

She said the Maramag police were still determining the identity and motive of the murder.

Labastilla, who has three children, was the parish priest of Maramag several years ago and was expelled after the bishop learned he sired a child and eventually married the mother.

Longgakit said the victim’s relatives refused to issue statement as of now but promised to cooperate with the investigators after his burial.