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Police concluded at the time that the bloodbath in a riverside shantytown in Caloocan city in the Manila metropolis was set off by a drug gang war.

Maria Tinao, 16, a high school student in the city of Caloocan, said she was always disillusioned about politics, believing officials had joined government just to enrich themselves.

During a mass on Feb. 8 at his diocese in Caloocan, he gave his blessing over the decision of its lay leaders to support Robredo.

Then he starts pedaling south toward downtown from his home in Caloocan City, a part of metro Manila — a journey that takes him under train tracks, into drainage culverts and across chaotic intersections.

Father Vasquez grew up in Bicol, a region southeast of Manila on the island of Luzon, and began working in Caloocan last year.