Stop the killings of human rights advocates, Duterte admin urged

Rights group Karapatan on Monday called on the Duterte administration to put an end to the killings of human rights advocates, as it sought justice for the murder of Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura on Sunday morning in Gattaran town, Cagayan province.

Cristina Palabay, Karapatan secretary general, said her group also demanded an end to “the system that has made it rife for such murderers to exist without fear of accountability nor regard for people’s rights.”

Ventura, 37, was gunned down around 8 a.m. while he was still in his altar vestments and was chatting with choir members and parishioners.

The gunman, who wore a helmet, entered the hall through the back entrance, and shot Ventura twice at close range. The priest died outright.

The gunman fled with another man on a motorcycle, which sped off toward the desolate villages of Baggao town.

Karapatan linked Ventura’s killing to his human rights and antimining advocacies.

The priest had just said Mass at the covered court of Barangay Piña Weste, part of the San Isidro Labrador mission station under the diocese of Tuguegarao.

Ventura’s parish is located at nearby Barangay Mabuno, about 30 km from Gattaran town proper.

“When the Church stands up for the poor, its people become targets,” Karapatan said.

Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg said the Church “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.”

Go after perpetrators

In a statement, Utleg appealed to “the authorities, especially to the police task force, to act swiftly in going after the perpetrators of this crime and to bring them to justice.”

Noting the many murders committed with impunity by assassins riding tandem on a motorcycle, the archbishop said, “May this be the last.”

Utleg, who was in Pamplona town when news of the killing reached him on Sunday, drove straight to Gattaran, and performed necrological rites for Ventura before his body was taken out of the crime scene.

“The bishop saw in Father Mac (Ventura) that as a young priest, his heart is for the poor and he wants to be there in the barrios. This is the main reason he put him there in that mission,” said Fr. Bernie Corpuz, chancellor of the Tuguegarao diocese.

Police task force

The police have formed an interagency task force to solve the murder of Ventura.

Investigators declined to attribute Ventura’s murder to the causes he pushed as a priest.

“All statements we have gotten so far point to the fact that he is well loved by the people, and with his mild manners, he could not have [drawn] the ire of anyone,” said Senior Insp. Rodel Tabulog, Gattaran police chief.

To friends and colleagues, Ventura was soft-spoken, kind and helpful. He was known to belt out the song, “Always,” popularized by singer Marco Sison.

“He loved the tune and lyrics of the song that he would even repeat the song when we go out for some videoke singing sessions,” said Neil Earl Laguimon Ambida, one of Ventura’s closest friends.

‘Forever cherish’

Ventura would dedicate the song to parishioners of San Isidro Labrador Mission, particularly when he sang the lyrics, “Always forever cherish,” and “[You] mean more than life,” Ambida said.

The slain priest was “down-to-earth” to villagers, especially in far-flung areas where he had served for 11 months, he said.

Ventura also served as rector of St. Thomas Aquinas Major Seminary at Lyceum of Aparri in Cagayan.

“Whoever you are, God knows what you have done,” Nicanora Ferrer, a parishioner, said of the gunman.

The death of Father Macmac, as Ventura was fondly called, demands swift justice, said Ma. Theresa Remigio from nearby Aparri town.

Fr. Gregorio Marvic Uanan, parish priest of Our Lady of the Visitation Church in Gamu town, said people who knew Ventura wanted “God’s justice to prevail.”

Nice Geraldez said the attack on Ventura was a “sad and shocking day” for Catholics. —Reports from Melvin Gascon, Villamor Visaya Jr. and Julie M. Aurelio