Cebu, Philippines, Aug 27, 2018 / 23:39 pm
A Filipino priest who has been an outspoken critic of extrajudicial killings in the country says he has gone into hiding after several sightings of what he believes to be members of a death squad searching for him.
Father Amado Picardal has spent 20 years advocating against extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, and more recently against President Rodrigo Duterte's brutal war on drugs. He has served as the spokesperson for the Coalition Against Summary Execution and aided in preparing the International Criminal Court case against a prominent death squad in the country.
He said his advocacy has put a target on his back.
In a recent blog post, the priest said he was first made aware of threats to his life in 2017 and again in March 2018 but believed himself to be safe at the mountain hermitage where he was living.