NBI finding that priest did not kill self brings redemption

THE CHURCH in Loboc town, Bohol province, where Fr. Marcelino Biliran served as parish priest, had suffered extensive damage following the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that shook the province in 2013 and left at least 200 people dead. INQUIRER PHOTO

TAGBILARAN CITY—The National Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of a parish priest in Loboc town, Bohol, after autopsy showed that he was murdered and did not commit suicide.

“We have the results (of the autopsy) and from here we shall conduct an investigation (to find out who killed him),” said Rennan Augustus Oliva, NBI Bohol chief.

Dr. Rene Cam, NBI medicolegal officer, found horizontal lacerations on the neck of Fr. Marcelino Biliran, “an indication that the priest did not kill himself.”

Fr. Val Pinlac, spokesperson of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, said Church officials were told by the NBI that lacerations on the neck of a person who hanged himself always formed a vertical pattern.

“In Fr. Mar’s case, there were no vertical lacerations,” said Pinlac. “So the NBI concluded that he was killed and the perpetrators made it appear that he committed suicide.”

“Fr. Mar was condemned and judged based on assumptions particularly on social media,” said Pinlac.

“People were made to believe that he committed suicide, and the autopsy report just proved all of them wrong,” he said.

Biliran, parish priest of St. Peter the Apostle Parish Church in Loboc town, was found dead inside his room in the convent on the evening of June 27.

The Loboc police said initial investigation showed it was a case of suicide, a mortal sin for Catholics.

Speculation on the motive for the suicide led some of Biliran’s friends and relatives to assume that depression over his colon cancer, diagnosed in September 2015, could have driven Biliran to kill himself.

But Biliran’s family expressed disbelief that the priest would kill himself and sought the NBI’s help.

“We knew him and we knew he could not do it,” said Leah Sumampong, 34, niece of Biliran.

Relatives and the Diocese of Tagbilaran called for a deeper investigation.

Bishop Leonardo Medroso, of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, announced the result of the NBI autopsy at Mass in St. Joseph Cathedral on Wednesday.

“The death of Fr. Marcelino Biliran is never and can’t be a (case of) suicide,” Medroso said during the Mass.

“That’s why we will give him full funeral rites for a Christian who died, complete liturgy Mass in our church,” said Medroso. Biliran, he said, “is a brother, a priest, a good pastor and we will send him to his journey in the other life.”

Fr. Pinlac, who also served as rector of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran, said the autopsy result elicited a “sigh of relief.”

Pinlac said reports that Biliran committed suicide was “an affront against priesthood.”

“Worse, he was murdered and judged by people,” he said. “Yes, we’re grieving. But we’re even more hurt by the condemnation thrown at Fr. Mar,” he added.

Pinlac said the next step now should be to identify who killed Biliran, although he said he could not think of any motive to kill Biliran.