Expelled priest shot dead in Bukidnon

COTABATO CITY – An expelled priest in Bukidnon was shot dead Thursday morning by two armed men riding tandem on a motorbike in Maramag town, police said. Police Inspector Jiselle Lou Longgakit, Bukinon police provincial office spokesperson, said defrocked Fr. Teresito M. Labastilla was shot dead in front of his eldest son at past 7 a.m. in a highway in Maramag town, Bukidnon. Bystanders rushed Labastilla, 45, to the Bukidnon district hospital where he was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians, Longgakit said. He was hit in the forehead from cal. 45 pistol,” Longgakit said. A witness told police Labastilla was standing in front of Maramag Central Pilot Elementary School with his child when when two men, wearing ski masks arrived and without a word fired the former priest in the forehead. She said that the Maramag police are still looking into the identity and motive of the daylight murder. Labastilla, who has three children, was the parish priest of Maramag several years ago and was expelled after the bishop learned he sired a child and eventually married the mother. After he was defrocked in 2012, Labastilla ran for mayor of Lantapan in the 2013 elections, and lost. Longgakit said the victim’s relatives refused to issue statement as of now but promised to cooperate with the investigators once the victim is laid to his final resting place.