Probers eyeing 5 suspects in Ecija priest’s murder

Fr. Richmond Nilo–CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Authorities were looking into the identities of five suspects in the brutal murder of Nueva Ecija priest Fr. Richmond Nilo, the regional director of Central Luzon police said on Wednesday.

Citing report from the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Nilo formed by the Nueva Ecija provincial police, Police Regional Office 3 head Chief Supt. Amador Corpus said one of the suspects has already been identified based on closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage.

“We have a development today, we are now looking into five suspects based on the CCTV [footage] na nakuha po since up to the next towns na pwedeng pagkunan ng CCTV,” Corpus said in a press briefing at Camp Crame.

(We have a development today, we are now looking into five suspects based on the CCTV footage retrieved from the area up to the next towns with available footage.)

According to Corpus, the identified suspect was seen riding a motorcycle with two others after Nilo was gunned down at the chapel of Barangay Mayamot in Zaragosa town in Nueva Ecija on June 10.

He said Nilo had been tailed by three men onboard a sedan from an adjacent village to the chapel, where the priest was killed. The gunman, together with another man, waited for the priest while onboard a motorcycle.

“So sa backtracking and review ng CCTV [footage], nagpalit ang mga ito. Itong dalawa sila ang sumakay—that is our initial assessment—sila ‘yung sumakay sa getaway car then the three na ginamit na lookout na nakasakay formerly sa getaway car ito ang actually ang sumunod kay Father going to the kapilya ng Mayamot,” Corpus said.

(So in the backtracking and review of CCTV footage, the suspects changed rides. These two, based on our initial assessment, rode the getaway car that the three used to follow Father going to the chapel of Mayamot.)

Corpus said police were looking into Nilo’s involvement in resolving land dispute issues in Nueva Ecija as well as his active role in supporting rape victims and molested children, and filing cases against the suspects.

Corpus also said the victim was likewise a staunch critic of other religions, which he did not identify. /kga

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