Reverend Father Marcelino “Tito” Paez, at 72 years old had a constant smile on his face. Rare trait for a man, a priest, a prophetic witness to the sufferings of the poor for their quest for justice.

Fr. Tito, a diocesan priest of the Diocese of San Jose, Nueva Ecija, for 32 years since the diocese was established in 1984, served on its social action commission and lead its justice and peace office under the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.

Though retired, Fr. Tito, served as a member of the National Board and Central Luzon regional coordinator of Rural Missionaries of the Philippines (RMP), a mission partner of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines (AMRSP). He chose to continue walking with the oppressed and underprivileged. On the day he was violently gunned down by his assailants, he had successfully facilitated the release of political detainee Rommel Tucay from the Provincial Jail in Cabanatuan City. Tucay, an organizer of the Alyansa ng Magbubukid sa Gitnang Luson-Nueva Ecija (AMGL-NE) was arrested last March 2017 in Carranglan.

We, the members of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines, are deeply saddened at the death of a companion, a brother, priest and fellow Filipino. In the strongest terms, we denounce the brutal murder of Fr. Marcelino Paez and call for the just resolution of his murder.

His murder should not leave the Church in fear. Now, more than ever, we heed the call to be prophetic witnesses and proclaim the good news of God’s promise for social justice to the poor and disadvantaged. The primary mission of the Church is to uphold human life and human dignity, to proclaim justice, truth, peace and ensure the social, economic and political welfare of God’s people are served by government. The Church’s mission is to make God’s word relevant to the realities and the expectations of society. A legacy that has been left by Jesus:

‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose’ (Lk 4:43).

‘As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world’ (Jn 17:18)

The nation has witnessed enough deaths. End impunity.
Let the rule of law prevail and not the supremacy of the rule of power.