Robredo: Probe on priest’s murder won’t be rushed to ensure justice

KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines—Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo said on Saturday that authorities were not rushing their investigation into the death of Italian missionary Father Fausto Tentorio to ensure genuine justice for the victim.

“We wanted to be sure and thorough in the investigation rather than running under a time frame. Authorities are also exhausting all means to give us quality and better results in their investigation,” he told reporters during a visit at the wake of Tentorio here.

Robredo said the government would ensure the use of all available resources to solve the Tentorio murder case.

Tentorio was shot dead by an unidentified assailant as he was about to leave the Arakan parish convent in Arakan, North Cotabato on October 17.

He was to attend a clergy meeting here.

Church workers in Arakan said that days before Tentorio was gunned down, they saw unidentified men near the church there.

Another man even came to the convent on separate occasions, asking for Tentorio’s whereabouts, they said.

Some groups have suspected the military of ordering the killing of Tentorio as they linked the murder to a militia group formed by the military.

This was the same reason why the Department of Justice has asked the military’s Eastern Mindanao command based in Davao City to conduct an internal investigation, an official said.

“The DOJ wanted us to conduct a military probe. It is military probe, meaning its internal, since the military is being accused,” Lieutenant Colonel Leopoldo Galon, Eastmincom spokesperson, said.

Robredo said he was confident that investigating authorities would come up with clear results on the Tentorio case.

With a report from Dennis Santos, Inquirer Mindanao