MANILA (SE): Redemptorist Father Amado Picardal, a peace advocate who campaigned against the drug-related killings in Davao City, the Philippines, died on May 29, CBCP News reported.
The Redemptorists announced that Father Picardal died on the 47th anniversary of his religious profession. He was 69-years-old.
Father Edilberto Cepe, provincial superior of the Redemptorist Province of Cebu, described Father Picardal as a “brilliant and courageous missionary,” adding, “He was a passionate advocate of peace and social justice and a professor of theology who has touched and transformed the lives of many.”
Father Cepe revealed on May 30 that the priest had died of “cardiac arrest” in Cebu City.
Father Picardal helped document the extrajudicial killings in Davao when former president, Rodrigo Duterte, was still the city’s mayor.
In 2017, he wrote a detailed report on the so-called Davao Death Squad [DDS] from 1998 to 2015, which he said became part of the information submitted to the International Criminal Court [ICC].
“This nearly cost my life, as I became a target of assassination and [was] forced me to leave my hermitage and go into exile,” CBCP News reported Father Picardal as saying in 2021 from Rome.
The ICC has been investigating Duterte over the killings that took place during his bloody war on drugs.
Also dubbed the “biking priest”, Father Picardal was known for his penchant for taking long distance bicycle rides to highlight his advocacies.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
He was former executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Basic Ecclesial Communities of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, and was also a columnist at CBCP Monitor, the official publication of the bishops’ conference.
