Priest killed before fire?

Arson probers of the Manila Fire Department (MFD) are convinced that the priest found dead inside his burned room in the parish rectory in Bacood, Sta. Mesa, was already dead when the room was set on fire.

Chief Inspector Fennimore Jaudian, chief of the MFD Arson Division, said they are convinced that Rev. Fr. Raul Villamiel, 45, was first killed by suspect Alain Patrick Bayudan, 22, before his room was burned in an apparent attempt to cover-up the crime.

"By our assessment, he (Villamiel) was already dead when he was burned. There were two crimes involved in this case. We suspect that he was killed before he was burned as his body was already stiff when it was found. The motive (for the arson) could have been to cover-up the murder," said Jaudian.

Jaudian hinted that the victim could have been bludgeoned to death as shown by a wound in the back of his head, before he was burned. "It was a treacherous blow. He was not able to defend himself," Jaudian said.

The MFD earlier filed consummated arson charges against Bayudan in the office of Manila Assistant City Prosecutor Adela Masigan. Bayudan was the stay-in driver of the victim.

Villamiel, parish priest of the Our Lady of Fatima Parish church on Biyaya street in Bacood, Manila, was found dead after his room at the second floor of the rectory was razed by fire at about 3:39 a.m. last July 31.

Responding firefighters thought the victim had died from suffocation and smoke inhalation. The fire was contained at about 3:58 a.m.

The Manila Fire Department is readying murder charges against Bayudan.

Residents of the neighborhood said that prior to the incident, Bayudan and the victim were often heard quarreling.

Bayudan was arrested by barangays tanods while fleeing from the victim’s burning room.

Jaudian said that before Bayudan was nabbed by firefighters and barangay tanods he reportedly threw a plastic bag into a bush near the church.

The plastic bag, Jaudian said, contained an empty "Sure Flash" plastic lighter fluid container. Firefighters scouring the fire scene also found a 29-inch steel pipe in an anteroom about seven feet away from the room where Villamiel’s body was found.

Parishioners described the victim, the parish priest of the community for the past three years, as a "kind priest" with no known enemies.

The Camp Crame Criminal Laboratory Group has already finished its autopsy on Villamiel’s body. However, the autopsy report has yet to be forwarded to the MFD and the Western Police District by Dr. Michael Maunahan. The report was supposed to be released yesterday but Maunahan was reportedly sick and did not report for work.

Vicente Kayaban, lawyer of the suspect earlier told reporters that his client had volunteered to be placed under the custody of the Manila Fire Department’s Arson Division for the next 15 days pending the result of the ongoing investigation.

Kayaban was also quick to defend his client, saying that all the accusations are just "hearsay" and the evidence presented are just circumstantial.

"There is nothing to link him (Bayudan) to the crime. It is all just hearsay," Kayaban said.

But according to Jaudian, they could win a conviction of Bayudan for arson based on the evidence they have. The MFD has coordinated with the WPD Homicide Section in the investigation of the murder angle.

Yesterday, the MFD submitted to the WPD’s custody the lead pipe allegedly used by Bayudan in clubbing to death Villamiel and the result of their arson investigation. But according to homicide detective Athos de Quiros, they have yet to start their probe of the alleged murder and have yet to receive other important investigation notes from the MFD as well as a copy of the autopsy report from Camp Crame.

Police sources hinted that based on photographic evidence, the wound found in the victim’s nape could not have been inflicted by a fall as was earlier speculated. Villamiel was buried last Sunday in Cavite.