Missing Aglipayan priest shows up, in state of shock

SISON, Surigao del Norte — A missing priest of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente surfaced in his church in Cagayan de Oro City last Thursday, but was in a state of shock, the church said in a statement.

Aglipayan priest Melvino Resurreccion went missing last Jan. 28. He was last seen boarding a passenger jeepney bound for Butuan City, some 110 kilometers southeast of this town.

Resurreccion still refused to talk, and was observed to be occasionally staring at the sky and murmuring something.

Surigao del Norte police director Ricky Nerbez confirmed the priest’s resurfacing, but believes that he was not abducted, as Caraga police director Alberto Rama Olario had suspected.

Resurreccion was known to be strongly opposed to mining operations in the province.

Meanwhile, kidnapped Agusan del Sur education official Danilo Magcanam failed to return home yesterday, as he claimed in an earlier text message to his wife.

"We are expecting him to return home today (Saturday) but until now he has not showed up," Magcanam’s wife Ruth said.

Mrs. Magcanam and Olario suspect that the New People’s Army might have something to do with the abduction of 57-year-old Magcanam, non-formal education supervisor of the Agusan del Sur schools’ division.

Mrs. Magcanam, a public elementary school teacher here, believes that the NPA snatched her husband over a rape case filed against him last year.

She, however, belied the allegations, even rumors that her husband had impregnated the victim, saying he underwent vasectomy in 1998 because they could ill-afford to raise their five children.

She dismissed the allegations as "borne out of jealousy and crab mentality," saying her husband rose from being a teacher to a non-formal education supervisor in his 30 years of service in the education department.

Mrs. Magcanam said her husband was on Dinagat Island attending a seminar when the alleged rape took place on April 3 last year, as proven by certificates of appearance and training the department had given him.

Magcanam was seized by four unidentified men while on his way home last weekend.

Beatriz Omay, Agusan del Sur schools’ division superintendent, believes that Magcanam’s abduction was not work-related.

"Di namin alam ang motibo, baka may problem siya sa labas (We don’t know the motive, perhaps he has problems outside of the office)," she said.