Special task group probes Italian priest’s murder

MANILA, Philippines—Slain Italian Catholic missionary Father Fausto Tentorio had not spoken about threats to his life before he was shot dead Monday in Arakan, North Cotabato, Philippine National Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Agrimero Cruz said Tuesday.

“It is only now that these threats have surfaced, based on the investigation of the Special Investigation Task Group,” Cruz said in a press conference.

“We are studying if these can be validated through letters or text messages, or even witnesses who can say that he really was under threat,” he added.

The Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) “Fausto”, led by Police Chief Superintendent Lester Camba, Deputy Regional Director for Administration Police Regional Office 12, was gathering witnesses and physical evidence to be used for investigation and litigation.

They are looking at a number of motives, including Tentorio’s anti-mining stance.

Police said an unknown gunman shot Tentorio, 59, eight times at his parish in the remote farming town of Arakan on Monday morning as he got into his car.

Tentorio arrived in the Philippines in 1978, a year after being ordained in his home country of Italy.

Tentorio was the third member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions to have been killed since 1985 in Mindanao, a vast island home to Muslim separatists, political warlords and other armed groups.

Police said the assailant escaped and they did not know why Tentorio was killed, but his colleagues said they suspected his death was linked to his efforts to help local tribes and other disadvantaged people in the area.

Tentorio was particularly active helping the Manobo tribe, whose ancestors used to control vast tracts of land in Arakan but have been pushed to the fringes by settlers from other parts of the country. With Agence France-Presse