Parishioners, supporters prepare to bury slain Fr. Nilo in N. Ecija

Parishioners, friends, and supporters of Reverend Father Richmond Nilo early on Friday filled the chapel of the College of the Immaculate Conception in Cabanatuan City to pay their last respects and give honor to the slain priest as they prepared to take his body to his final resting place.

A report by Manny Vargas on "Dobol B sa News TV" said that as early as 7 a.m., the chapel was already filled with mourners, waiting for the Requiem Mass that would mark the start of the burial rites for Fr. Nilo.

Mga nakikidalamhati sa pinaslang na si Fr. Richmond Nilo, hindi matinag kahit umuulan. | via @VargasMannysen pic.twitter.com/P8PQ1IA9T0

— DZBB Super Radyo (@dzbb) June 15, 2018

Mourners braved the early-morning rain in Cabanatuan to show their solidarity and support, the report said. 

Nilo was shot dead last Sunday, June 10,  by motorcycle-riding suspects while he was about to officiate a 6 p.m. Mass in a chapel in Barangay Mayamot in Zaragosa, Nueva Ecija.

Church leaders condemned the killing of the priest and called for justice also for the thousands of victims of the spate of killings in the country, which in the last six months also has taken the lives of three priests.

Church-run Radyo Veritas president Father Anton Pascual, who is also executive director of Caritas Manila, on Thursday called on all Filipinos to unite in "just outrage" against the continued killings.

Since last December, three priests have already been killed. Police are eyeing five suspects in the killing of Fr. Nilo, the latest Catholic pastor to be cut down by assassin's bullets, while they are investigating the murders of Fr. Paez and Fr. Ventura. —LBG, GMA News