Tuguegarao Archdiocese urges swift probe of priest’s murder

The Archdiocese of Tuguegarao in Cagayan province has appealed to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for a swift probe on the murder of a parish priest in Gattaran town.

Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg said in a statement that the special task force created by the PNP should act swiftly on the case of Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura, who was gunned down as he concluded Mass at the village gymnasium on Sunday.

According to the police report, a gunman emerged from the back entrance around 8:15 a.m. and shot Ventura twice.

READ: Cagayan priest shot dead after saying Mass

“We make our appeal to the authorities, especially to the PNP Task Force, to act swiftly in going after the perpetrators of this crime and to bring them to justice,” Archbishop Utleg said.

“There have been too many murders already done with impunity in our country by assassins riding in tandem. May this be the last,” he stressed.

The Tuguegarao archbishop said prayers would be offered to all priests and the religious “for their perseverance in their vocation, their good health and their personal safety.”

“We just lost a young priest, zealous and dedicated, one who smelled like his sheep, to an assassin’s bullet right after he said Mass and was baptizing children,” Utleg said.

“Let us offer our prayers for him, for his bereaved family, and the lay faithful of our beloved Archdiocese,” he also said. /ee