CAMP FLORENDO, La Union ,Philippines – At least two of the five suspects in the killing of Fr. Florante Rigonan of Pinili, Ilocos Norte were arrested on Thursday.
Senior Inspector Jefferson Antalan, Pinili police chief, identified the suspects as siblings Roger and Lydia Macalma who did not resist when policemen served a warrant for their arrest at their home in Barangay Balbuena.
Liwliwa, another sibling of the Macalmas, also surrendered.
The two other suspects – father and son Roger and Ronie Gamboa from Solsona, Ilocos Norte – are still at large. The Gamboas are suspected to be guns-for-hire.
Rigonan was gunned down in 2007 after a gathering at the residence of Florencio and Elisea Macalma, a balikbayan couple from the United States.
The Macalma couple had donated P5 million and raised P250,000 for the construction of a church in Upon village in Pinili.
Witnesses claimed that the Macalma siblings envied the priest for being appointed “administrator” of the couple’s properties in the country.
Catholic Church officials said they expect the resolution of the murder case with the arrest of the suspects.