BY JERRY ALCAYDE
CALAPAN CITY, Oriental Mindoro – A 49-year-old Catholic priest was found dead hanging from the beam of a church early Saturday morning in Mansalay, this province.
Police Capt. Michael P. Rivera, chief of the Mansalay Police Station, said the victim, identified as Fr. Pedro R. Pastrana, S.V.D., parish priest of Mansalay in southern Oriental Mindoro, died in an apparent suicide.
Local police chief investigator Police Staff Sgt. Noel B. Colangoy said they found the body of Pastrana hanging with a rope looped around his neck when they arrived at the church premises at about 6:30 a.m.
The victim was wearing a white T-shirt and black short pants. The rope that he used in hanging himself was hooked to a wooden beam of the function hall near the church’s kitchen, police said.
Except for a laceration in his chin due to the friction of the rope and minor cuts in both of his hands, no major wounds were found by police investigators.
Colangoy said the victim was first discovered at about 6 a.m. by Herbert D. Balingig, a convent boy who immediately informed the assistant parish priest, Fr. Matthew Marasigan.
Police said they have talked to Fr. Nestor Adalla, administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Calapan, who told them that it was indeed a suicide based on a post-mortem autopsy conducted on the victim’s body.
Dr. Christian Caringal, municipal health officer of Mansalay who conducted the autopsy, said the priest probably committed suicide two or three hours before his body was found.
The priest’s parishioners described him as a very kind “shepherd” who cared for his flock by regularly reminding them about the value of life and the negative effects of depression. (Jerry Alcayde)
