KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines—National Bureau of Investigation agents on Thursday arrested a man, who allegedly shot to death Italian priest Fausto “Pops” Tentorio inside his parish compound in Arakan, North Cotabato over two months ago but fellow missionaries doubt the suspect was involved in the killing.
Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, North Cotabato police director, was quoted by a radio report as saying that Jimmy Ato was arrested around 3 a.m. in Barangay Kulaman Valley, also in Arakan.
Salinas said NBI agents were assisted by policemen in the arrest of the suspect, who was allegedly identified by witnesses as the man behind Tentorio’s death.
A military officer privy to the arrest said Ato was collared around 5 a.m.
The military officer, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the suspect had been brought to Cagayan de Oro City.
Tentorio, belongs to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was preparing to leave for a clergy meeting in the morning of October 17 when attacked by a masked suspect.
Father Sebastiano D”Ambra, also a PIME priest, said he would reserve his comments on the arrest of the supposed suspect.
He also doubted the claims that Ato was identified by witnesses as the same man who shot and killed Tentorio.
“As far as I know, there was no clear witness to the crime. Unlike Tulio (Favali), who was killed in front of many witnesses, Tentorio was killed with hardly a witness,” D’Ambra, who is based in Zamboanga City, told the Inquirer by text.
He said that as of this time, the motive behind Tentorio’s murder remains unclear.
“We don’t know if the killing was related to mining, communist or personal vendetta because sometimes he cannot please everybody,” he said.
The Justice for Pops Movement, which is made up of religious and cause-oriented groups, had earlier expressed apprehension about a possible whitewash of the Tentorio murder case.
The group said there were indications that the military was behind Tentorio’s murder, a charge that the Armed Forces of the Philippines had repeatedly denied.
But Colonel Leopoldo Galon, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, once admitted that Tentorio was a suspected communist supporter.
Father Peter Geremia, another PIME priest working with the indigenous communities in North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat provinces, had said their being perceived as defenders of the poor and the oppressed had made them suspected communists.