February 1, 2008

Murderer who sought forgiveness to visit victim’s grave on Monday.

DUBLIN – In the midst of recent threats of violence against clergy in the Philippines, one repentant murderer next week will express his remorse by visiting the grave of the priest he killed.

Norberto Manero Jr. spent almost 23 years in prison for murdering Catholic Father Tulio Favali in 1985. Granted a pardon and released last Friday (January 25) – just 10 days after the latest murder by Muslim militants of a Catholic clergyman, Father Reynaldo Albores Roda – Manero plans to visit Fr. Favali’s grave in Kidapawan, southern Mindanao on Monday (February 4).

Father Peter Geremia, a fellow missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) and the original target of Manero’s murder operation, will be present at the grave site along with other priests from the diocese.

Authorities released Manero after the Philippine government granted him a pardon with the consent of Kidapawan Bishop Romulo Valles and other church members.

The graveside reflection may touch raw nerves as the Catholic community is still recovering from the shock of the murder of Fr. Roda, shot by Muslim militants on the island of Tawi-Tawi on January 15.

Fr. Roda’s death was the latest in a series of attacks on church leaders in recent years by a complex array of splinter groups fighting for independence from the central government. The issues for the Islamic attackers are both political and spiritual; the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), one of the largest groups, wants not only political autonomy but the ability to govern by sharia or Islamic law.

The convicted murderer of Fr. Favali, Manero, wrote to Bishop Valles from prison in 2004, begging forgiveness and help to regain freedom. Then-president Joseph Estrada had granted Manero a pardon in 1999 but revoked it after a public outcry. New rules since then require the consent of aggrieved parties in order for a presidential pardon to be granted.

Valles and other members of Fr. Favali’s diocese agreed to Manero’s release under strict conditions. Manero first had to agree not to threaten or harm anyone connected to Fr. Favali, nor cooperate with fringe groups. He also agreed to reveal the circumstances surrounding the case of mistaken identity that led to the death of Fr. Favali in place of Fr. Geremia.

Death of ‘Fr. Rey’

On January 15, 10 armed men broke into the Notre Dame convent school in Tabawan, Tawi-Tawi, run by Fr. Roda – popularly known as “Fr. Rey.” They dragged Fr. Roda and a Muslim teacher, Omar Taub, out to the schoolyard. When Fr. Roda fought with the gunmen, they shot him several times and escaped with Taub.

Local media reports said police were following leads but had not yet located the kidnappers.

Fr. Roda belonged to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, an order formed to work among the poor. OMI missionaries in Mindanao were not there to convert Muslims but to “create a world that is more peaceful and just,” Cotabato Bishop Orlando Quevedo said in the funeral address. “That is at the heart of the missions in Sulu and Tawi-Tawi … because such a world is a fuller reflection of the universal reign of God.”

Fellow priests from the Jesuit-Oblate-Marist Network published a statement this week claiming Fr. Roda had worked selflessly for solidarity and peace among Muslims and Christians in Tabawan, pioneering a number of development and livelihood projects for people of both faiths.

Fr. Roda was recently offered a transfer after receiving death threats but refused, according to an Asia News report. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said in a statement that the death threats came from the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf group.

A contingent of Philippine marines was sent to secure the town following Fr. Roda’s death. A report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer said residents feared retaliatory attacks from the murderers after witnesses identified two of them in statements to police.

Fr. Roda joins two other Catholic priests murdered on the islands of Tawi-Tawi and Sulu in recent years; Father Benjamin Inocencio in 2000 and Bishop Benjamin de Jesus in 1997.