Parishioners post bail for Fr. Reyes

University of the Philippines parish priest Fr. Robert Reyes walked out of jail yesterday after his parishioners bailed him out, putting up P10,000 for his provisional liberty.

Around 50 parishioners and colleagues in the peace movement gave him a warm welcome under a heavy downpour as he stepped out of the Quezon City Jail just before noon yesterday.

He joined them for a meal of hot lugaw at the Church of the Holy Sacrifice in the 493-hectare State university campus in Diliman.

"It has been an extraordinary experience for me," said the 47-year-old priest, who turned himself in to jail authorities Monday after Quezon City Regional Trial Court Judge Normandy Pizarro issued a warrant for his arrest on a charge of libel leveled by former Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and his son, Cagayan Rep. Jackie Enrile.

The Enriles accused him of maligning their honor during a television interview where the priest said the former senator and his son were responsible for the death of his nephew Ernest Robert Lucas in 1975.

The priest spent two days in jail in a fast. Before he walked out, he held a rosary session at the jail’s quadrangle and gave away 500 rosaries. His fellow detainees at the Barangay Roxas detention cell, who include UP graduates convicted for the murder of Sigma Rhoan Dennis Venturina, joined him. He said when he entered the jail Monday, he was prisoner number 1,861.

When he got out, around 10 others were added to the number of detainees at the jail. – Romel Bagares