PNP frees suspect in Fr. Nilo slay case

FALLEN SHEPHERD Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud, surrounded by clergymen, sprinkle holy water on the casket of Fr. Richmond Nilo during a funeral Mass on June 16, 2018, for the 44-year-old priest who was gunned down inside a chapel in Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija. Thousands of mourners in black attire or wearing black armbands joined the funeral march in Cabanatuan City.
INQUIRER file photo / ARMAND GALANG

The man accused of killing Nueva Ecija priest Fr. Richmond Nilo was released from detention on Friday after the prosecutor withdrew the charges against him, the Philippine National Police (PNP) said.

Cabanatuan City Regional Trial Court Branch 27 Presiding Judge Angelo Perez ordered the case against Adell Roll Milan be withdrawn and directed his immediate release.

Officer-in-charge Provincial Prosecutor Eddie C. Gutierrez filed an urgent motion to withdraw the case against Milan after the suspect’s camp presented a closed-circuit television footage showing him far away from the crime scene.

PNP spokesperson Benigno Durana Jr. refused to divulge more details about the development in the case as it may “compromise the ongoing investigation.”

“We need to emphasize that this case is not yet closed and I am sure we have encouraging developments that we cannot divulge the details of these developments because it may compromise [an] ongoing investigation,” Durana said.

“We are confident that we will be serving the ends of justice and we are continuously pursuing some positive developments,” he added.

Nilo was murdered when he was about to preside a Mass in a chapel in Zaragoza town on June 10.

He was the third priest to be killed in a span of six months, the other were Nueva Ecija priest Fr. Marcelito Paez, who was killed a few hours after assisting the release of a political prisoner in Jaen, Nueva Ecija last December; and Fr. Mark Ventura, who was gunned down after celebrating Mass in Gattaran, Cagayan. /jpv

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