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Archbishop Villegas declares ‘Day of Reparation’ over priest murders


Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas on Tuesday declared June 18, the ninth day after the murder of Fr. Richmond Nilo, a "Day of Reparation".

In a statement, Villegas explained that during the Day of Reparation, all the Masses in the Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan would be offered as reparation for "the murders that continue without relent."

All parish church bells would be rung for fifteen minutes at 6 p.m. on June 18th "to commemorate the time when Father Richmond Nilo was killed", after which the Day of Reparation would be closed with a procession.

Villegas compared the recent series of clergymen killings to the 12th Century murder of Saint Thomas Becket by the henchmen of England's King Henry II.

"Like blind fanatics, the knights of the King went to the Cathedral, searched for the Archbishop, hacked him and split his skull to make the King happy but the king was unnerved instead. The King became penitent and offered penance. The murderers were disgraced," said Villegas.

However, unlike those murderers of Becket, the present-day murderers were "commended and the king is undisturbed."

Villegas also lamented that, in the present climate, killings were thought of as a solution and were thus encouraged.

Despite this, and despite the abuse he would likely receive because of it, the archbishop believed that the country was "not a nation of killers."

Aside from Fr. Richmond Nilo, who was shot to death in a Nueva Ecija chapel , Fr. Marcelito Paez was killed by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Jaen, while Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura was killed in a similar fashion in Cagayan province.

Philippine National Police chief Director General Oscar Albayalde had meanwhile insisted that the killings were unrelated, "isolated cases." — DVM, GMA News

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