DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 28 July) – The book “The Beloved: Journals, Diaries and Letters of a Priest,” written by the late Fr. Amado “Picx” Picardal, will be launched on Friday, August 1, at 2:30 p.m. in the Fr. Joel E. Tabora, SJ. Audio Visual Room of the St. Alphonsus Theological and Mission Institute (SATMI) within the Redemptorist Compound along Bajada. The book, first launched in Cebu City on May 29 to mark Picardal’s first death anniversary, is an abridged version of a manuscript he submitted in January 2018, the year he intended to live as a full-time hermit. Picardal passed away at 69 from cardiac arrest after working on a hermitage in Busay, Cebu City, which was completed by the Redemptorists and his family and is now known as “Capella del Amado.” His planned eremitical life was disrupted in 2018 when he faced assassination threats and was forced to leave the country until the end of the Duterte administration. A staunch critic of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Picardal was the spokesperson for the Coalition Against Summary Executions (CASE), documenting extrajudicial killings during Duterte’s war on drugs. His book, a blend of diary and journal entries and letters, chronicles his life from 1968 and includes his last poem about his dog Bruno, posted hours before his death. His poems are set to be published separately. MindaNews
