Polomolok clan claims Manero took their land

GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Aside from his conditional pardon, convicted priest-killer Norberto Manero Jr. may also stand to lose his property in Barangay Kinilis in Polomolok, South Cotabato.

This, as a family from Kinilis, where Manero earlier wanted to settle down, has accused him of landgrabbing.

Sister Susan Bolanio, chairperson of the Justice and Peace Desk of the Diocese of Marbel, said a family from Kinilis has lodged a complaint with their office that Manero allegedly forcibly acquired their 24-hectare land in the 70's.

Bolanio, however, refused to identify the complainants, who fear for their lives, pending further investigation.

She said the Justice and Peace Desk is set to conduct an intensive probe on the family's complaint for the filing of appropriate charges.

The land was allegedly annexed by Manero, known as "Kumander Bucay" during his stint as head of a paramilitary unit linked to numerous brutal killings in the area.

Manero, who was arrested and sent to the Sarangani provincial jail last Monday to face trial for the killing of brothers Ali and Mambawatan Mamalumpong in Kinilis in 1977, earlier claimed that he owns a 50-hectare land in the area.

But he had maintained that the property was his share of his parents' bequeathed land. The Maneros were originally from Iloilo and settled in Polomolok town in the 60's.

Manero was given a conditional pardon by President Estrada last December of his conviction in 1987 for the brutal killing of Italian missionary Fr. Tullio Favali in Tulunan, North Cotabato in 1985.

He was sent back to jail after authorities discovered that he has a standing warrant of arrest here.

Manero, his wife Leonarda alias "Kumander Inday," his brother Artemio, Job Tolentino and Larry Gonzaga allegedly abducted and tortured the Mamalumpong brothers to death in Kinilis on Nov. 5, 1977.

Charges of double murder and kidnapping were filed against them but were archived in 1981 by the late Judge Pedro Samson Animas of the then Court of First Instance of South Cotabato after Manero and his co-accused escaped before they were brought to court.