Fr. Pops’ group fears Red tag means death

DAVAO CITY—A climate of fear continues to grip a community of Italian missionaries that had seen three of its priests murdered in some of the country’s remotest provinces where they fought for civil rights and often clashed with the military.

Fr. Pete Geremia, of the Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere (Pime), said threats to him and his colleagues in Pime are continuing and believed that these are from enemies that they had made in the course of their fight to protect tribal rights and abuses against the poor.

At least three Italian priests from Pime had been murdered in Mindanao since 1985—Tulio Favali (1985), Salvatore Carzedda (1992) and Fausto Tentorio (2011).

“We receive numerous death threats because of our advocacy,” Geremia said.

He said Pime’s commitment to helping the poor and fighting environmental crimes have turned them into targets of black propaganda, including by the military.

Tentorio, parish priest of Arakan, North Cotabato, had been accused by the military of being a communist supporter because of his refusal to just sit idly by and turn a blind eye on military abuses, according to Geremia.

“The people of Arakan and myself have no doubt that they are committing these atrocities to stop us from this kind of involvement. They always try to stop these popular movements,” he said.

Geremia, who claimed that unidentified men have been tailing before and after Tentorio’s death, said he was also being branded as a supporter of the New People’s Army (NPA).

Col. Leopoldo Galon, spokesperson of the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command, had admitted that the military is keeping “reports from the ground about Father Geremia’s involvement” in the NPA.

“We received reports that Father Geremia has been supportive of the NPA. Every time there is an encounter between our troops and the rebels, in just an hour or less, he would immediately appear in the area riding on his motorcycle,” Galon said.

But Geremia said the military’s claim was preposterous.

“If we are talking about support to the community–yes. But we are not providing any logistical support to the NPA. And it is not true that I am an organizer of the NPA. What is alarming is that this is like a death order for us, who are falsely accused,” he said.

Geremia said he was not certain how long he could escape harm as the threats against him continue.

“They tried to kill me (in the past). They harassed and falsely accused me. We are doing nothing wrong here,” he said.

Geremia was supposedly the target of the Manero brothers, not Favali. When the killers of Favali were waiting for Geremia, however, it was Favali they first saw.

Geremia said he was not being cowed by the threats and that he and the other Pime priests would continue to “provide direct services to communities not reached by government services.” Karlos Manlupig, Inquirer Mindanao