CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines – Catholic priest Elmer Abacahin, a press freedom advocate and former leader of the oldest press club in the country, died Wednesday morning, November 20.
He was 69.
Monsignor Abacahin succumbed to cancer, which he battled for about a year, at Maria Reyna-Xavier University Hospital.
Abacahin served as the 39th president of the 73-year-old Cagayan de Oro Press Club (COPC) in 2012, and was reelected in 2013. He received a fresh mandate in 2016, and was reelected in 2017.
The priest was regarded as the de facto chaplain of the Cagayan de Oro media.
He was among Cagayan de Oro’s media leaders who openly denounced attacks on journalists, including the red-tagging of media workers, which became more pronounced during the Duterte administration.
Abacahin helped organize press freedom rallies in the city and served in various capacities in the COPC board.
Days after the 2009 Ampatuan massacre in the now-defunct Maguindanao province, Abacahin officiated a Mass at Cagayan de Oro’s Press Freedom Monument in honor of the victims, including over 30 journalists, before a COPC-led indignation rally. The massacre remains the single deadliest attack on journalists on record.
He was admitted as a member of the local press club due to his active involvement in media work, particularly in a now-defunct community radio station supported by a group of priests.
Froilan Gallardo, COPC president, said the Cagayan de Oro media community was mourning the loss of one of its most beloved leaders like the local clergy and the city’s Catholic community.
“He was the go-to for many of the city’s media workers with professional and even personal concerns,” said Joey Nacalaban, a COPC director.
Born on August 27, 1955, Abacahin was ordained as a priest in 1983 and became a papal chaplain with the title of monsignor in 2000.
CBCP News said Abacahin was the first executive secretary of the then-Committee on Basic Ecclesial Communities of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) from 2004 to 2011. The office became an episcopal commission in 2021.
In the Cagayan de Oro archdiocese, Abacahin served as archdiocesan pastoral coordinator, director of the youth apostolate, and vice rector of the Shrine of the Divine Mercy in El Salvador City, Misamis Oriental. He was also director of the archdiocese’s vocation commission.
The Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro-Social Communications Apostolate said Abacahin’s remains will lie in state at the Archbishop Hayes Hall of the Saint Augustine Metropolitan Cathedral. Regular wake Masses will be held there starting Thursday night, November 21, until Saturday, November 23.
A funeral Mass will be held Monday morning, November 25, at the cathedral, before Abacahin is laid to rest at the San Jose Memorial Park, Seminary Hills, in Camaman-an, Cagayan de Oro. – Rappler.com