According to Tagapul-an police, Pastor Jet Tan was not known to be involved in any conflict in their town.
AdChoiceTV News — A religious leader was gunned down in Tagapul-an, Samar, on Wednesday, March 17.
Tagapul-an police said in a phone interview with Rappler on Thursday, March 18, that Pastor Jet Tan was killed by an unidentified gunman as he walked in Barangay Labangbaybay around 6:45 am on Wednesday.
Police Corporal Rey Grata said Tan was not known to be involved in any conflict in their town. The case is still being investigated.
Tan, head pastor of the Forever Praise Evangelical Church in the Philippines, chaired the Conservative Baptist Association of the Philippines (CBAP) in Eastern Visayas.
CBAP condemned the incident and called for justice.
“We, the Conservative Baptist Association of the Philippines, condemn the killing of innocent lives in the strongest terms. We call for justice for Pastor Jet Tan,” said CBAP General Director Reynaldo Avante.
In 2019, Protestant pastor Ernesto Estrella was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Antipas, Cotabato. Following Estrella’s murder, the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF) condemned “the ideology of death which now prevails over the country and responsible for the threats, harassment and killing of church people” under the Duterte administration.
In 2018, President Rodrigo Duterte said, in the guise of a joke, that bishops should be “killed” for supposedly doing nothing but criticize his administration.
As of 2019, at least 3 priests had been killed since 2016: Father Marcelito Paez, Father Richmond Nilo, and Father Mark Ventura.
Reporting by Albert Rovic Tan
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