Bishop to authorities: Respect rights of suspect in Tentorio slay

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines—Kidapawan Bishop Romulo Dela Cruz has urged government authorities to respect the rights of the suspect arrested in connection with the October 17 murder of Italian priest Fausto “Fr. Pops” Tentorio.

Dela Cruz said Jimmy Ato, a suspected hired assassin, should be presumed innocent pending court verdict. “It’s up to the court to determine his culpability,” he added.

He said the rights of any person, “even if he is thought to have committed crimes,” should be respected.

Dela Cruz issued the statement after a resident of Barangay Kulaman Valley claimed Ato was beaten by the arresting National Bureau of Investigation agents.

“They mauled him before he was whisked into their vehicle,” the villager who requested anonymity told a local radio station.

The villager also belied claims by authorities that Ato had engaged the arresting officers in a firefight.

“No shot was heard,” the villager said.

The villager also said Ato was a plain farmer and was even surprised when he was arrested.

Dela Cruz said in the event Ato is found guilty of murdering Tentorio, the church was willing to forgive him.

“In the end maybe we give mercy but he must first confess and tell the truth,” he said.

“What is important to me is hopefully he will have a chance to return to the folds of law and God,” the prelate added.

Ato was arrested by NBI agents in a village in Arakan, North Cotabato around 5 p.m. Thursday.

The NBI said he was positively identified by witnesses as the same man who shot dead Tentorio.

Tentorio, who belonged to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was preparing to leave for a clergy meeting in Kidapawan City on the morning of October 17 when shot dead by a masked man.

“As the bishop of the diocese, I am very happy because finally we have seen a light in the very dim situation of Fr. Pops killing. Fr. Pops will surely rest in peace with this development,” Dela Cruz said.

The suspect, according to Colonel Leopoldo Galon of the Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, had initially confessed that the Italian priest was murdered for his strong objection to a hydropower plant being planned on the Arakan portion of the Pulangui River.

Galon said the order to kill the priest was allegedly given by landowners, who will financially benefit from the project.

Militant groups had previously suspected that Tentorio’s work with “lumad” (indigenous) communities-particularly against perceived military abuses-was the reason he was killed.

“I never doubted my soldiers and from the start, I believed they were not involved in the murder of Fr. Pops,” Lieutenant General Arthur Tabaquero, Eastmincom commander, said.

Tabaquero also urged those who continue to link the military to the Tentorio killing “to let the NBI finish its investigation and file charges against those behind the priest’s killing.”

The spokesperson of the local Army unit in Arakan said with the arrest of the suspect, militant groups should issue an apology for wrongfully accusing soldiers of involvement in the priest’s killing.

“These groups should issue public apology for maligning the entire military unit in North Cotabato,” Lt. Manuel Gatus of the 57th Infantry Battalion, said.