Priest had date with teen before alleged suicide?
MANILA, Philippines - Police in Camarines Sur province are investigating the death of a priest, who allegedly went on a date with a 15-year-old girl before he was found dead last Wednesday morning.
Senior Superintendent Jonathan Ablang, Camarines Sur provincial police director, said the initial report he received was that Father Baltazar Acompañado Jr. died in his sleep and that that the priest may have committed suicide.
"May hawak-hawak na baril sa kanang kamay si Father Acompañado at may gunshot wound sa ulo, kaya lumalabas nag suicide siya (Father Acompañado has a gunshot wound in the head and he was holding a gun with his right hand, which indicates that he committed suicide)," Ablang said.
He, however, said that the suicide angle was not conclusive, based on the initial crime scene investigation by the Camarines Sur Police Provincial Office.
Acompañado, director of the Holy Rosary Preparatory Seminary and Archdiocesan Vocation, was found dead inside his room at the seminary's compound in San Jose town last Wednesday morning (July 28).
Mall date with 15-year-old girl
Ablang said that as the San Jose Police Station probed deeper into Acompañado's death, its investigators discovered that the priest went out with a 15-year-old girl last Tuesday.
He said police have arrested the girl's alleged pimp.
In an interview with ABS-CBN Bicol, the woman denied she was a pimp. She said the priest approached her and asked her to look for a girl who could accompany him to a mall in Naga City.
"HIndi naman ako bugaw. Nilapitan lang ako, pinakiusapan lang ako maghanap ng babae. Nasa bahay lang ako, tumutulong minsan sa sakahan (I'm not a pimp. The priest approached me and asked me to look for a girl for him. I'm usually at home and sometimes helps in the farm)," the woman claimed.
She said that the 15-year-old girl immediately agreed when she asked her if she could accompany the priest to Naga City.
"Sabi sa akin, oo, kasi kailangan niya ng pera (The girl agreed because she said she needed the money)," he added.
The alleged pimp also told ABS-CBN News that the priest tipped her P500 for finding him a girl.
The girl's parents refused to be interviewed.
"Basta sa police na lang kayo magtanong. Kawawa naman ang anak ko, kinse anyos lang ganyan na ang nangyari (You should just ask the police. You should pity my daughter, she's only 15 and yet she already had this kind of experience)," the girl's mother said.
The priest and the girl allegedly returned to San Jose town on Tuesday night.
Good priest
In a statement released by Archbishop Leonardo Legazpi on Thursday, he said that Acompañado was "a good and dedicated priest."
Legazpi said Acompañado first served as parochial vicar of St. John the Evangelist Church in Naga City in 2003 and professor of the preparatory seminary before he was appointed rector.
The archbishop announced that Acompañado's remains lie in state at the Good Sheperd Chapel at the Holy Rosary Major Seminary in Naga City.
A concelebrated funeral Mass will be offered on Saturday at 2 p.m.. The priest's remains will be buried at the Resurrection Garden, the burial ground for priests in Caceres. -- Report from Kate Delovieres, ABS-CBN Bicol
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56 people gives this news a thumbs up? where's the icon for the thumbs down?
how come when we disagree and object with the article, we have to post a comment? and not just click an icon that will express our objection?
calling abscbn... or baka kayo din lang naman ang pumipindot ng thumbs up.
"Well, I bet he had a good
"Well, I bet he had a good shag before that but men, can't he get laid with an 18 year old student?" - is abscbn news people enjoying comments like this?
journalists should always keep in mind that truth-seeking has a higher purpose - to bring out the good. if a journalist's output results to comments like this, something is terribly wrong with your organization and your people.
Priest had date with teen before alleged suicide? - your headline is a cheap stunt to sensationalize a very serious matter.
in all honesty, what was your objective when you wrote this story? for whose benefit? i wonder what else would the reporter do just to have her story published...
Feeling Guilty?
As I read the story, I can't help to remember 'A Scent of a Woman'. In that movie, Al Pacino hired a high class prostitute before we wanted to commit suicide (which he eventually did not do).
It's sad the priest killed himself. Well, I bet he had a good shag before that but men, can't he get laid with an 18 year old student? Priests, especially in the seminary, are chick magnets!
abscbn, review your ethical standards
this is downright irresponsible. the reporter and her editor neglected the basics of news reporting. those who are subject of news should be given a chance to present their side. now, who will refute the allegations of the woman said to be the pimp in this story? given the fact the priest is dead, why should the alleged pimp still be interviewed? obviously, the reporter and her editors have been irresponsible and even malicious. the headline, although framed as a question does not excuse abscbn from accountability.
abscbn prides itself of its news reportage. but with this story, there is nothing to be proud of.
irresponsible reporting
This report has bias. Media people should be responsible to what they are broadcasting. It is obvious that this report has malice. The report wants to spite, to humiliate, and to destroy the Catholic Church. The family and friends mourning over the loss of their dear one and this report was broadcasted. This is really a very irresponsible reporting. If it is really true that the reporter of this belongs to the INC, I have no doubt that this report has really a malice, because INC wants to destroy the Catholic Church.
TO BECHIN
Ang pagkakatulad ay paniniwala sa iisang Diyos at pagkakaroon ng sugo o messenger.
Kung sa pagkakaiba naman ay marami. Pangunahin na diyan ang paniniwala sa katungkulan ni Cristo, kahulugan ng katarungan at paraan ng matuwid na pamumuhay.
Totoo ba?
Ang INC ba at ISLAM parehas ng katuruan magkaiba lang ng libro na pinagbabasehan? nagtatanong lang po.
FAIR REPORT
The reporter only followed the lead of the police. No conclusion. Nothing more.
The report was taken mainly from the statement of the police.
IN this particular news, the human interest is on the unlikelihood that 1) a priest allegedly commited suicide 2) the priest had unlikely meeting with a 15-year old girl for an unlikely reason
This is not a case of sensationalism. Sensationalism anchors on opinion and theory. If you just report the police statement, it is not an opinion.
Probably, some get irked on the choice of the word "date". It depends on how you define the word "date". I believe the reporter made a catchy title of the report.
Mabuti nga ganon lang ang title ng report. Siguro kung lalabas yan sa tabloid, ang headline ay "Pari, Nagpakamatay Matapos kumain ng Luto ng Diyos"
Talaga! INC is Kate Delovieres?
A classic example of crass sensationalism
This news report simply oozes with sensationalism. The reporter took liberties in making conclusions based on unverified pieces of data, data that still has to be checked and investigated. If one ever studied logic, one would see that nowhere in the news report showed strong indications that indeed the priest had a "date" with the girl.
I believe this reporter and the station is guilty of sensationalism. Also, the editor should have exercised prudence on how this incident should have been reported. I believe this stems from the fact that everytime an incident happens that involves the Church, or for any religion for that matter, there always seems the need to sensationalize things. It would have been enough to state that the priest was found dead with a gun, that there were unverified reports that he was seen with a girl but that there are no conclusions that were drawn yet. This reporter tried to impute malice to the priest, who is now unfortunately dead and cannot defend himself. Even if he was not a priest, still there is no excuse for any intended or unintended attempt to impute malice.
I suggest that ABS-CBN Bicol prevent this reporter from reporting from this incident any further and try to have someone report developments related to the case more objectively. Lastly, I find it in bad taste that the picture of the dead priest was still posted. And the attempts to interview the family of the girl. Such a shame. Where is delicadeza in this station?
the priest
is this a partial or complete report? Kate Delovieres failed to explain in this article what happened with the gun ( who is the owner if the gun, was there any gun powder found in the crime scene, was there any finger print noted, was there an autopsy pending?) my gosh i feel like the report was just made for no reason at all!!!what a waste of time...the family is grieving and all you can produce is this kind of report? what kind of information did they get frm the girl involved? were they meeting for a specific reason? have they know wach other? So many questions that a responsible journalist should ask before printing this out....did anyone in the abs-cbn news ever reviewed this??? remember that you can be sued for wrong information....of course you know this but simply ignored the fact just to report something. mahiya naman kayo!!!!