Group welcomes filing of charges over Italian priest’s killing

Fr. Fausto ‘Pops’ Tentorio

DAVAO CITY — A Church-backed rights group welcomed the filing of charges against military personnel for the 2011 murder of missionary Italian priest Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio but said the government must do more to protect volunteers involved in missionary and social work in tribal communities.

The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), in a statement, said while it was elated by the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommendation to charge two Army officers and several militiamen with Tentorio’s murder, the government should immediately dismantle militias that had become symbols of impunity in remote communities.

Bro. Ronald Balase, PCPR spokesperson, said the men involved in Father Tentorio’s murder should be immediately prosecuted.

A member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, Tentorio was shot dead inside the compound of the Mother of Perpetual Help Parish Church in Poblacion village, Arakan town, North Cotabato, on Oct. 17, 2011, as he was boarding his car to go to a meeting in Kidapawan City.

A six-member DOJ panel recommended murder charges filed against 12 suspects, including Lt. Col. Joven Gonzales, who was then head of the Army’s 57th Infantry Battalion based in Makilala town.

Also among those recommended charged were brothers Jimmy and Robert Ato, said to be members of the government tribal militia Bagani Special Force. —Frinston Lim