Fr. Teresito "Chito" Suganob (August 1, 1960
– July 22, 2020) was a Filipino Roman Catholic priest based in
Marawi
Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao: ''Inged a Marawi''; fil, Islamikong Lungsod ng Marawi), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a po ...
. He came into national public attention when he was taken hostage by
ISIL
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
-linked
Maute group
The Maute group ( or ), also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a ''Dawlah Islamiya'', or ...
militants during the earlier period of the
Battle of Marawi
The siege of Marawi ( fil, Pagkubkob sa Marawi), also known as the Marawi crisis (), and the Battle of Marawi (), was a five-month-long armed conflict in Marawi, Philippines, that started on May 23, 2017, between Philippine government security ...
in May 2017.
Suganob was a native of
Lambunao
Lambunao, officially the Municipality of Lambunao ( hil, Banwa sang Lambunao, krj, Banwa kang Lambunao, tgl, Bayan ng Lambunao), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Iloilo, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populat ...
,
Iloilo
Iloilo (), officially the Province of Iloilo ( hil, Kapuoran sang Iloilo; krj, Kapuoran kang Iloilo; tl, Lalawigan ng Iloilo), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is the City of Iloilo, the ...
.
Career
Suganob served as a priest at the Prelature of Marawi which serves both the city of
Marawi
Marawi, officially the Islamic City of Marawi (Maranao: ''Inged a Marawi''; fil, Islamikong Lungsod ng Marawi), is a 4th class component city and capital of the province of Lanao del Sur, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a po ...
and the province of
Lanao del Norte
Lanao del Norte ( Cebuano: ''Amihanang Lanao''; tl, Hilagang Lanao; Maranao: ''Pangotaraan Ranao''), officially the Province of Lanao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindanao region. Its capital is Tubod.
T ...
. He was assigned at the
Cathedral of Maria Auxiliadora. He worked with the Institute for Peace and Development in Mindanao along with Moctar Matuan, the organization's executive director, in monitoring governance in different municipalities. He also helped Henrietta de Villa in establishing a foothold for the
Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV) is a non-partisan, non-sectarian non-profit organization affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines that works to ensure free, fair and fraud-free elections in the Phili ...
in
Lanao del Sur
Lanao del Sur ( tl, Timog Lanao; Maranao and ilp, Pagabagatan Ranao), officially the Province of Lanao del Sur, is a province in the Philippines located in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM). The capital is the city of ...
as well as in aiding victims of human trafficking in the province. He served as the Vicar General of Marawi, the right hand of Marawi Bishop Edwin dela Peña.
During Suganob’s early years of service in Marawi as a priest, Muslims were suspicious of the Prelature of Marawi's attempts to establish
a dialogue between Muslims and Christians. According to Bishop dela Peña, when the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
occurred in the United States, there was a greater need for Muslims to assert Islam as a "religion of peace" and said that this need is an opportunity for Muslims and Christians to "work together". The bishop described the timing of Soganub's arrival in Marawi as "just at the right moment".
[
Suganob also conducted programs in chaplaincy, education, interfaith dialogue and peace building at the ]Mindanao State University
Mindanao State University, commonly referred to as MSU Main, is a regional state, coeducational, research higher education institution in the city of Marawi, Philippines. Founded in 1961, it is the flagship and the largest campus of the Mindana ...
.
Captivity in Marawi
Amidst a battle between ISIL-linked Maute and Abu Sayyaf
Abu Sayyaf (; ar, جماعة أبو سياف; ', ASG), officially known by the Islamic State as the Islamic State – East Asia Province, is a Jihadist militant and pirate group that follows the Wahhabi doctrine of Sunni Islam. It is based i ...
groups, and government forces in Marawi which commenced in May 2017, Chito Suganob was taken hostage along with 23 others by the Maute group
The Maute group ( or ), also known as the Islamic State of Lanao, was a radical Islamist group composed of former Moro Islamic Liberation Front guerrillas and foreign fighters led by Omar Maute, the alleged founder of a ''Dawlah Islamiya'', or ...
at the Cathedral of Maria Auxiliadora on the eve of May 23, 2017 while they were preparing for a celebration of the Feast of Mary Help of Christians which was to take place on the next day. The church was later burned by the militants.[ Within the month, he appeared in a ]propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
video pleading to President Rodrigo Duterte
Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...
for his life as well as the lives of reportedly hundreds of others. He also echoed the demands of his captors to withdraw government forces from Marawi.
He, along with other hostages were fed by the militants with food from grocery stores, but their captors experienced a shortage as fighting increased. The hostages, Suganob included, were forcibly converted to Islam. Suganob also narrated how he was tasked to transport arms for the militants which were to be used against government troops.
According to a self-narrated account relayed to Bishop dela Pena, Suganob along with a Dansalan College teacher who was also taken hostage escaped early morning of September 17, 2017 from their captors and were found by the military who rescued them near the Bato Ali mosque. According to Presidential Peace Adviser Secretary Jesus Dureza
Jesus "Jess" Gestuveo Dureza (born December 24, 1947) is a Filipino lawyer, consultant, journalist and politician from Davao City, Philippines. He was the adviser on the peace process to President Rodrigo Duterte from 2016 to 2018 and is the Fou ...
, his companion and himself were rescued late night of September 16 following a military operation.
President Rodrigo Duterte
Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945), also known as Digong, Rody, and by the initials DU30 and PRRD, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the chairperson ...
said that Suganob was not released as a result of backdoor negotiations with militants answering to queries by the media.
Life after escape
Following his escape and rescue, he took a rest from his duties as priest. His programs and services at the Mindanao State University
Mindanao State University, commonly referred to as MSU Main, is a regional state, coeducational, research higher education institution in the city of Marawi, Philippines. Founded in 1961, it is the flagship and the largest campus of the Mindana ...
were handled by seconded priests and lay missionaries from the Redemptorist Missionaries in the Philippines, Caritas Cebu, and the Capiz Archdiocesan Social Action Center in Roxas City
Roxas City, officially the City of Roxas (Capiznon language, Capiznon/ hil, Dakbanwa sang Roxas; fil, Lungsod ng Roxas), is a 3rd class Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, component city and capital of the Provinces of the Philippi ...
.
On September 18, 2017, military and defence officials officially presented Suganob to the media at Camp Aguinaldo
Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo (CGEA), also known as Camp Aguinaldo, is the site of the general headquarters (GHQ) of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) located in eastern Metro Manila, the Philippines.
It is located in Quezon City along E ...
in Quezon City
Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
.
After undergoing trauma healing Soganub was not given a new assignment or did he return to Marawi to continue his missionary work. He spent the later years of his life as a speaker sharing his experience in Marawi as a hostage by the Maute group.
Religious views
Soganub made an effort to respect the way of living of Marawi's Muslim population. He avoided the public display of a crucifix including at the former Cathedral of Maria Auxiliadora and remarked that the cross is "planted deep in our hearts" as a compromise to "avoid arguments and to avoid further misunderstandings".[
After his escape from the Maute, he reaffirmed his belief in good interfaith relations between Muslims and Christians.] He also expressed his views on the similarities of Christianity and Islam believing that both adherents of the religion follow one God
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one deity, an all-supreme being that is universally referred to as God. Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford ...
, the desire to live in peace, and the belief in the afterlife with Muslims believing that they can go to paradise
In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
while Christians believe in heaven
Heaven or the heavens, is a common religious cosmological or transcendent supernatural place where beings such as deities, angels, souls, saints, or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned, or reside. According to the belie ...
. He always said that he still associated himself with Christians rather than with Muslims while expressing these beliefs.
The legitimacy of his conversion was dismissed. Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao
The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao ( tl, Rehiyong Awtonomo ng Muslim Mindanao; ar, الحكم الذاتي الاقليمي لمسلمي مندناو ''Al-ḥukm adh-dhātī al-'iqlīmī li-muslimī Mindanāu''; abbreviated as ARMM) was ...
Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong said that forced conversions are prohibited in Islam.[ Marawi Bishop Dela Pena said there was no confirmation of the conversion. He also added that such cannot be considered a "full conversion" when the act was done under duress and remarked that the Prelature of Marawi had not "abandoned" him.
]
Personal life
Suganob was reportedly fluent in speaking the Maranao language
Maranao ( fil, Mëranaw) is an Austronesian language spoken by the Maranao people in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur in the Philippines, and in Sabah, Malaysia.
Iranun was once considered a dialect of Maranao.
Unique am ...
. He maintained long hair and a beard as an effort to not alienate himself from Muslim ulamas who maintain their beards. As a result he was often mistaken as a Muslim.[ He also did not wear a crucifix or a cleric collar.]
Death
Suganob died from cardiac arrest on July 22, 2020, in his residence in Norala, South Cotabato
Norala, officially the Municipality of Norala ( hil, Banwa sang Norala; krj, Banwa kang Norala; ceb, Lungsod sa Norala; tl, Bayan ng Norala; mdh, Inged nu Nurala), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of South Cotabato, Philippines. Ac ...
. His remains were buried in the same town's public cemetery.
See also
*List of kidnappings
The following is a list of kidnappings summarizing the events of each individual case, including instances of celebrity abductions, claimed hoaxes, suspected kidnappings, extradition abductions, and mass kidnappings.
Before 1900
1900–1949
...
*List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who dis ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soganub, Chito
1960 births
2010s missing person cases
2020 deaths
20th-century Filipino Roman Catholic priests
21st-century Filipino Roman Catholic priests
Filipino people taken hostage
Formerly missing people
Hiligaynon people
Missing person cases in the Philippines
Place of birth missing
People from Iloilo
Victims of Islamic terrorism