Cautious Holy Week for threatened Oblate priest

AN Oblate of Mary Immaculate priest assigned to Maguindanao province in the southern Philippines is commemorating a tense Holy Week after he recently confirmed threats against his life.

Father Eduardo Vasquez Jr., parish priest of Datu Piang town, where majority of the residents are Muslims, told UCA News March 30 he has become more cautious in his movements since a “friend” warned him recently not to take threats to his life lightly.

“My friend told me he was talking with an MILF (Moro Islamic Liberation Front) leader who asked him to tell me the threats I have been hearing since last January are true and there will be an attempt on my life,” Vasquez said.

No more night trips

He no longer travels openly during the day and he returns home to his parish before it gets dark. He uses different vehicles to travel about and never uses the same car two days in row.

“I have plenty of work that I need to do outside the town center so in a way this threat has been a help to me,” the priest said. “I no longer say Mass on weekdays in the main church, but have services outside the parish,” he said.

Vasquez learned of the death threats last January when government offices and military commanders received copies of a letter saying the priest had been marked for death.

Vasquez said perhaps the documentary video he did last year on how relief goods intended for refugees were channeled to “unscrupulous rice traders” may be the cause behind the threats.

The priest publicly criticized the food and media blockade the military implemented against humanitarian organizations delivering relief goods to some 12,000 evacuees of the war between the army and the MILF.

He accused the military of abusing its power by classifying evacuees as enemy reserve forces.

Some 200 Catholic families live in the parish, based in the embattled town of Datu Piang, which is caught in the crossfire of the war between the Philippine Army and the MILF.

Read full report