Gov’t eyeing 3 angles in slay of Italian priest

MANILA, Philippines—The government is looking into three angles as possible motive for the brutal murder of Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio in Arakan town, North Cotabato last week, according to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

“It might be good for us to consider all angles and motives because … there are inconsistencies if you take a closer look at the incidents and the initial motive as claimed,” Robredo told reporters at a forum hosted by the Catholic Media Network on Tuesday.

But he refused to provide details.

Church leaders and many of those who had worked with Tentorio expressed the belief that he was killed because of his campaign against mining and his programs to uplift the lives of the indigenous people in Arakan.

Tentorio, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was gunned down by still unidentified men in a church compound in Arakan on Oct. 17. He was 59.

Suspicions were also aired that Tentorio might have been ordered killed by the military.

Robredo, who was in Arakan last weekend, said the task force assigned to look into the case had completed a sketch that might be of help.

“[This] will probably assist us in identifying the person responsible [for the killing]… But we are not certain if that fellow in that sketch is the same person responsible for it,” he said.

He appealed to the media “to be open” to other information apart from the mining angle.

At the wake of Tentorio last weekend, Robredo told reporters that authorities were not rushing their inquiry into the killing.

“We want to be sure and thorough in the investigation rather than run under a time frame. Authorities are also exhausting all means to give us quality and a better result in their investigation,” he said.

He added that the government would also make sure that all available resources would be employed to solve the murder case.

Tentorio was buried on Tuesday in Arakan.