Juan Severino Mallari: The priest as a serial killer

FR. Juan Severino Mallari, the first documented serial killer in the Philippines, killed 57 people in a span of 10 years, while he served as the parish priest in Magalang, Pampanga, from 1816 to 1826.

After his mother fell ill, Mallari began showing signs of mental illness, but his peers ignored it. He would sometimes stop in the middle of the Holy Mass, looking intently at the open door of the church, at a figure that only he could see. Or he would lapse into a mood so dark that no one, not even his cook who prepared his favorite meals, could dispel. Or he would cry inconsolably in front of his mother, who was turning smaller and smaller every day, her bones shrinking such that the priest feared she would just vanish one day into thin air.

In an issue about Memorable Kapampangans, the journal Singsing said the priest was afflicted by severe psychosis. But in the 18th century, such strange behavior was blithely attributed to the supernatural.

Fifty-seven people died. Their bodies were found in different areas, which prevented the military authorities from finding a motive, or connection to the murders. They were found dead in backyards, beside a lonely road, or in the forest shrouded with mist. Outside the pale of the church bells and the town plaza, the town had huge trees with their canopy of leaves spread like bat wings.

Stiff clothes with dried blood

In 1826, Mallari contracted an unknown illness and another priest attended to him. He fed the sick priest, read the Holy Bible to him, and prayed over him.

One day, the priest saw bloodstained clothes, already stiff but folded neatly, in Mallari’s closet. The priest was horrified. He ran to the headquarters of the constabulary chief, who forthwith sent his men to investigate. Words flew thick and fast, that the serial killer had been discovered. And the townspeople gathered, with lit torches, wending their way onto the path taken by the constabulary men. They were shocked when the dusty trail ended in front of the parish house where Mallari stayed.

After his involvement in the murders was revealed, Mallari was imprisoned like a common criminal for 14 years. Mallari’s case also fueled the conclusion that indios were weak-minded and believed all sorts of supernatural tales.

The grisly details of the murders had been erased, the names of the victims unknown, as if a collective amnesia had fallen on the land. Only the cries of the widows, widowers and orphans blackened the air.

However, the historian and psychiatrist Dr. Luciano Santiago said Mallari should have been sent to the first mental health institution in the Philippines instead. It was either the Hospicio de San Jose or San Lazaro Hospital.

Santiago said that this was unusual and highly irregular, because Spain pioneered the humane treatment of mental patients, having founded one of the first psychiatric hospitals in Europe. It was called Hospital de Inocentes, to underscore the innocence of mentally ill people, who could not be held responsible for their actions.

Tantingco said the Spanish authorities were probably too outraged by Mallari’s heinous crimes to be bothered by human-rights issues. An account by Spanish chronicler Sinibaldo de Mas, recorded in Blair and Robertson’s The Philippine Islands series, said: “The attorney on that case talked in pathetic terms of the indescribable and barbarous prodigality of blood shed by that monster.”

In 1840, after languishing in jail for 14 years, Fr. Juan Severino Mallari was executed by hanging. Santiago said that “clearly, Mallari was a victim of injustice.” He was the first Filipino priest executed by the Spanish colonial government. Fr. Gomez, Fr. Burgos, and Fr. Zamora would be executed only 32 years later, for their alleged part in the Cavite Mutiny of 1872.

The details of Juan Severino Mallari’s life can be found in Dr. Santiago’s book, Kapampangan Pioneers in the Philippine Church 1592-2001, published by the Holy Angel University Center for Kapampangan Studies. And like the other murderers I’ve written about, Mallari’s life has also become a text — or a series of texts.

In 2023, in time for the Metro Manila Film Festival for the Christmas holidays, Piolo Pascual appeared on the big screen as Father Juan Severino Mallari.

The movie, titled Mallari, was written by Joaquin Enrico Santos and directed by award-winning documentary and film director Derick Carbido. It was produced by first-time horror film producer John Bryan Diamante.

And in May this year, Dennis Trillo will also star in an international series about the first serial killer of the Philippines, titled Severino. To be produced by award-winning Filipino content production company CreaZion Studios, the series is based on the true story of Mallari. Trillo will play the titular role.

In an interview with the international magazine Variety, chief creative officer Real Florido said their goal is “to be a part of the wide-scale production of elevated Asian projects.”

“With Severino underway, one of the biggest series in the region, we are excited to continue diversifying and expanding our market potential by partnering with outward-looking producers and projects,” he said.

The horror of Mallari has become a film, will soon fill the television screens, and is lodged in the people’s collective memory.

Fallout from a tragedy

The aftermath of the case wasn’t any better than the tragedy itself. Mallari never got the help his fractured mind needed, and precious lives were lost.

Everything became a historical tragedy in three parts — an ill man who lost to the phantoms in his mind, another of his beloved mother’s suffering, and the last of innocent parishioners who were murdered by a man of God.

Danton Remoto has published Riverrun, A Novel and The Heart of Summer: Stories and Tales with Penguin Random House Southeast Asia. The books, as well as his translations of classic Tagalog novels into English, are available at Fully Booked Online and www.acrephils.com