Police facing blank wall in case of missing Cavite priest found alive

Investigators are still determining if the priest who was reported missing in Cavite province and was found alive two days later was a case of abduction.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV on Monday, Rosario, Cavite Police chief Police Lieutenant Colonel Ruther Saquilayan said they have yet to speak with Father Leoben Peregrino as advised by the priest's doctor.

“Wala pa po kaming idea kung ito po ay talagang dinukot. Sa ngayon po ang makakapagbigay linaw talaga ay si Father lang po kung ano ang tunay na nangyari sa kanya,” he said.

(We still have no idea if he was really abducted. Right now, only the priest can shed light on what happened to him.)

The police are waiting for confirmation from the doctor to speak with Peregrino, parish priest of the Most Holy Rosary Parish, Saquilayan said. The priest is currently confined in a hospital in Cavite.

“Sa ngayon blangko pa po kami dahil nga po sa CCTV na kinakalap po namin, nagsasagawa po kami ng backtracking simula po doon sa lugar kung saan siya natagpuan at doon sa lugar kung saan siya nanggaling,” he said.

(For now we are still facing a blank wall because we are still backtracking the CCTV footage from the location where he was found and the area where he had been.)

Citing information from the priest's sister and driver, Saquilayan said Peregrino had been anxious in the past few weeks.

The priest also told his sister to take charge of their business because he would be gone, Saquilayan added.

Saquilayan said Peregrino usually buys candles with his driver. But on the day he went missing, the priest went on his own and left his cellphone.

Missing for two days, Peregrino was found alive but tied up and unconscious inside his vehicle on Sunday in Silang, Cavite.

Saquilayan said they could not yet speak with Peregrino as he was still traumatized by whatever happened to him. —KBK, GMA News