Priests seek sainthood for modern martyr

A Filipino priest deserves to become the first Church-declared martyr and saint of the new millennium.

Five years after his death at the hands of the Abu Sayyaf, Claretian missionary Fr. Rhoel Gallardo is being considered a “modern-day saint” by his former parishioners, friends and fellow missionaries.

Allan Navida, leader of an organization of former Claretian seminarians and Gallardo’s classmate, said it is time the Catholic Church canonized a saint that people can identify with.

“It’s time for the Catholic Church, especially in the Philippines , to have an inspiration in its struggle to work for peace amid the new challenges confronting us,” Navida said.

Navida said Gallardo is a “modern-day saint for a modern world confronted by modern-day problems like terrorism.”

“Let us not forget the martyrdom of Fr. Rhoel... who offered his life for peace to work in the most distant communities of Muslims and Christians,” said Claretian Fr. Bernardo Blanco, himself a former hostage of the Abu Sayyaf in Basilan.

“It is unfortunate that despite the attention given to him during his captivity and death, five years later people seem to have forgotten what he did,” Blanco said.

The killing of Gallardo and his companions on May 3, 2000 brought the people of Basilan together, he pointed out.

“Let us remember the example of those who not only talk about peace but strive to work for it so that true reconciliation in Muslim and Christian populations of Mindanao will become a reality,” said another Claretian, Fr. James Castro.

The Abu Sayyaf first came to the world’s attention on March 20, 2000, when it kidnapped Gallardo, several teachers and dozens of pupils from two schools in Basilan. One month later, on April 19, the bandits beheaded two teachers when both the Philippine and US governments refused their demands to release several jailed Islamic extremists.

The Abu Sayyaf also demanded that all Christian crosses be removed from public places in Basilan.

When the soldiers attacked the bandits’ lair, another group of Sayyaf bandits abducted over 20 hostages from the Malaysian tourist resort of Sipadan.

Published in Manila Standard Today on May 04, 2006