TAGBILARAN CITY鈥擳he National Bureau of Investigation is looking into the death of a parish priest in Loboc town, Bohol, after autopsy showed that he was murdered and did not commit suicide.
鈥淲e have the results (of the autopsy) and from here we shall conduct an investigation (to find out who killed him),鈥 said Rennan Augustus Oliva, NBI Bohol chief.
Dr. Rene Cam, NBI medicolegal officer, found horizontal lacerations on the neck of Fr. Marcelino Biliran, 鈥渁n indication that the priest did not kill himself.鈥
Fr. Val Pinlac, spokesperson of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, said Church officials were told by the NBI that lacerations on the neck of a person who hanged himself always formed a vertical pattern.
鈥淚n Fr. Mar鈥檚 case, there were no vertical lacerations,鈥 said Pinlac. 鈥淪o the NBI concluded that he was killed and the perpetrators made it appear that he committed suicide.鈥
鈥淔r. Mar was condemned and judged based on assumptions particularly on social media,鈥 said Pinlac.
鈥淧eople were made to believe that he committed suicide, and the autopsy report just proved all of them wrong,鈥 he said.
Biliran, parish priest of St. Peter the Apostle Parish Church in Loboc town, was found dead inside his room in the convent on the evening of June 27.
The Loboc police said initial investigation showed it was a case of suicide, a mortal sin for Catholics.
Speculation on the motive for the suicide led some of Biliran鈥檚 friends and relatives to assume that depression over his colon cancer, diagnosed in September 2015, could have driven Biliran to kill himself.
But Biliran鈥檚 family expressed disbelief that the priest would kill himself and sought the NBI鈥檚 help.
鈥淲e knew him and we knew he could not do it,鈥 said Leah Sumampong, 34, niece of Biliran.
Relatives and the Diocese of Tagbilaran called for a deeper investigation.
Bishop Leonardo Medroso, of the Diocese of Tagbilaran, announced the result of the NBI autopsy at Mass in St. Joseph Cathedral on Wednesday.
鈥淭he death of Fr. Marcelino Biliran is never and can鈥檛 be a (case of) suicide,鈥 Medroso said during the Mass.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we will give him full funeral rites for a Christian who died, complete liturgy Mass in our church,鈥 said Medroso. Biliran, he said, 鈥渋s a brother, a priest, a good pastor and we will send him to his journey in the other life.鈥
Fr. Pinlac, who also served as rector of Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Tagbilaran, said the autopsy result elicited a 鈥渟igh of relief.鈥
Pinlac said reports that Biliran committed suicide was 鈥渁n affront against priesthood.鈥
鈥淲orse, he was murdered and judged by people,鈥 he said. 鈥淵es, we鈥檙e grieving. But we鈥檙e even more hurt by the condemnation thrown at Fr. Mar,鈥 he added.
Pinlac said the next step now should be to identify who killed Biliran, although he said he could not think of any motive to kill Biliran.