NBI releases sketch of priest slay suspect

The NBI releases the sketch of the suspect in Fr. Marcelino Biliran’s murder during a peace and order council meeting in Bohol.

Tagbilaran City, Bohol — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Bohol released an artist’s sketch of one of the suspects in the murder of Fr. Marcelino Biliran, parish priest of St. Peter the Apostle Parish Church in Loboc town.

Lawyer Arcelito Albao, executive officer of NBI-Bohol, said they already have a lead in the case yesterday.

Albao told the Provincial Peace and Order Council that they have a sketch of one of the suspects.
“Amo na gipangita ang (We are searching for the) suspects,” said Albao in a phone interview.

The suspects were seen by a parish worker before Biliran was murdered, he said.

Albao said the NBI is withholding the identities of the two suspects and additional information about the suspects to avoid compromising the ongoing investigation.

Biliran was found dead inside his room in the convent on the evening of June 27.

Initial investigation conducted by the Loboc police showed it was a case of suicide, a mortal sin for Catholics.

Police declared it as suicide based on what they saw inside the toilet where Biliran’s remains was seen with an extension wire tied to the holder of a curtain rod.

Biliran’s friends and relatives assumed that depression over his colon cancer, diagnosed in September 2015, could have driven Biliran to kill himself.

However, Biliran’s family sought the help of the NBI in identifying his killers after NBI previously ruled out suicide as the cause of Biliran’s death after it conducted an autopsy report on the priest’s body right before he was buried.

Albao said Biliran’s family offered a reward of P1 million to those who would be able to give information on the whereabouts of the suspects that would lead to their arrests.

Chief Supt. Noli Taliño, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said they will help the National Bureau of Investigation find the suspect.

“Tulong-tuylong tayo sa paghahanap especially sensational ang kaso na ito (Let’s help each other especially that this is a sensational case),” he said in an interview.

Biliran was ordained in the Diocese of Tagbilaran on April 12, 1999.

He graduated Bachelor of Arts Major in Philosophy at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Seminary in Taloto District, Tagbilaran City, and he studied at Seminario Mayor de San Carlos in Mabolo, Cebu City.

He served as the parish priest of the St. Isidore the Farmer Parish in Bilar before he was transferred to the St. Peter the Apostle Parish in Loboc on June 8, 2015.