Hundreds join funeral march for murdered Italian priest in the Philippines

KIDAPAWAN CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Oct. 25, 2011) – Hundreds of Filipinos joined a funeral march on Tuesday for murdered Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio in the southern Philippines. Some of the mourners held a protest outside an army camp in North Cotabato’s Makilala town and sprayed red paint on a sign with word “Berdugo” which means executioner, and accused the military as behind the killing of the priest, who was a staunch defender of indigenous tribesmen and their rights in the province. Tentorio, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was gunned down October 17 by two men outside his convent in Arakan town. The priest, a known anti-mining advocate, was previously accused by the military as a supporter of the communist rebel group New People’s Army. He was shot 10 times. Communist rebels and human rights groups have also accused the security forces as behind the murder, an allegation strongly denied by the military.

“Fr. Tentorio is the latest victim to the Armed Forces of the Philippines’ campaign of annihilation of vocal Lumad advocates and staunch critics in Mindanao, intensifying as the year comes to a close. And he would not be the last,” said Rubi del Mundo, a spokesman for the National Democratic Front in Mindanao, in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner. Del Mundo said the killing of the missionary was part of the so-called Oplan Bantay Laya, the codename for the military’s anti-insurgent campaign. “You know these groups will ride at any issue to advance their propaganda,” Colonel Noel dela Cruz, a spokesman for the 6th Infantry Division, said in a separate interview. He said government troops had a good relationship with Tentorio when he was alive. “Our troops in North Cotabato, particularly in Arakan town, had a very good relationship with Father Fausto Tentorio,” he said. No individual or group claimed responsibility for the murder, but Tentorio was the third Italian missionary killed in Mindanao since 1985.

President Benigno Aquino ordered security forces to get the killer of the priest and police said it has in custody two probable witnesses who could shed light in the murder. Tentorio was buried beside the grave of Favali. Police said it has two probable witnesses who could shed light in the killing, but officials would not give any information about the murder or who was behind it, saying authorities are still investigating the murder, one week after the daring attack.

Congresswoman Emmi de Jesus said Tentorio’s murder unmasked the culture of impunity that has pervaded the country and called on President Aquino to put an end to extra-judicial killings. “Fr. Tentorio represented the dreams of elusive peace of the marginalized people in Mindanao. But in his death, the perpetrators failed to kill him because he has already shared his life to hundreds of people who needed light in the midst of darkness and hopelessness in Mindanao. His death fanned the desire of the people to continue working harder for a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and the whole country,” she said.

The Rural Missionaries of the Philippines in Southern Mindanao said the priest devoted himself to the service of indigenous peoples, especially of their defense to their right to ancestral domain and their right to life. “We, from his laypeople and staff of the Rural Missionaries of the Philippines - Southern Mindanao Region, and from all the schoolchildren and teachers deeply mourn his death. He would be so sadly missed. But he had sown the seeds for the next generations of fight for long lasting peace, justice and genuine development,” it said.

Tentorio’s family and relatives in Santa Maria di Rovagnate, in the Italian province of Lecco, said they were shocked with the news of the priest’s death. “We are shocked and dismayed. The last time my brother came to Italy, a year and a half ago, he told us that the situation in Kidapawan was not tense at all, that there was nothing to fear. And now this news...We always advised him to be cautious, be careful,” Tentorio’s elder brother, Felix, told AsiaNews. (Mindanao Examiner)