Suspect in Irish priest’s slay falls

Police arrested on Wednesday one of six suspects in the murder of Irish priest Rufus Halley on the outskirts of Malabang town in Lanao del Sur.

Ibrahim Samad, who was collared during a raid on the suspects’ safehouse in Malabang, admitted that he was the driver of a World War II-vintage military truck used in the failed abduction and killing of the Columbian missionary.

Police said Samad admitted that all his accomplices are members of the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which is currently holding peace negotiations with the government.

He recounted that his companions shot Halley in the head and body when the priest resisted.

Lanao del Sur police chief Lumala Gunting said charges of kidnapping with murder would be filed against Ibrahim and the five other suspects, who are at large.

Ibrahim told investigators the kidnappers, who paid him to drive the truck, planned to turn over Halley to the Abu Sayyaf extremist rebels.

Several witnesses, including teachers and students of a school near where the killing took place last Tuesday afternoon, tagged Ibrahim as one of the suspects.

Halley, 57, was riding his motorcycle on a dirt road in Malabang when he was accosted by the suspects, reportedly led by Atto Sumagayan Daing, eldest son of former Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) commander Datu Daing.

Gunting said the attackers tried to drag Halley into their truck, but the priest managed to kick one of his assailants who fell to the ground.

Halley tried to run away but was shot by Daing with an M-16 rifle.

The attackers fled after the shooting.

Superintendent Akmad Omar, police chief of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, said blocking forces have been posted in strategic spots to intercept the killers.

Lt. Gen. Gregorio Camiling, commander of the Armed Forces’ Southern Command based in Zamboanga City, said soldiers were also dispatched to put up checkpoints on possible escape routes in Central Mindanao.

Maj. Johnny Macanas of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division, confirmed that Marine troops have been deployed to the Malabang-Balabagan area to help arrest the priest’s killers.

Omar also claimed that the remaining five suspects have sought refuge at the MILF’s Camp Jubal Nul to evade pursuing lawmen.

Omar said that Daing’s father was a commander of the MILF, not the MNLF which signed a peace agreement with the government in September 1996.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu denied, however, that the suspected killers belonged to their group, but did not comment on allegations that the suspects were hiding inside one of their camps.

Omar said they could not arrest the suspects in view of a standing ceasefire agreement between the MILF and the government.

Halley worked for over 20 years for the Malabang parish and was fluent in several local dialects.

He was also actively involved in promoting dialogues between Muslims and Christians in the predominantly Muslim towns of Malabang and nearby Balabagan. — With reports from Lino de la Cruz