Prosecutors review witnesses' accounts in Italian priest's murder

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines  – State prosecutors have begun reviewing a police report on the brutal October 17, 2011 murder of Italian priest Fausto Tentorio in Arakan town in this province.

The chief regional prosecutor for Region 12, Al Calica, said the purpose of the review  was to determine which of the conflicting testimonies of witnesses to the crime could stand in court.

Calica and his subordinates inspected the premises of the Arakan Catholic church, where Tentorio was gunned down, to study different statements of witnesses about the priest's murder.

One witness had stated seeing a lone gunman escape using a blue Honda XRM motorcycle, while another had tagged two suspects as behind the attack, who both fled riding a Yamaha DT sports bike together.

The two witnesses’ accounts also had conflicting statements about where the suspects fled  after killing Tentorio.

Calica said they need to have an airtight case against Tentorio’s killers.

“This is something we can’t rush. We have to produce a good, correct resolution that we can take to the court,” Calica told reporters.

The military has earlier insinuated that the New People’s Army was responsible for the murder of Tentorio.

Residents of Arakan, however, were convinced the priest was killed for his staunch advocacy for the protection of the cultures and the ancestral domains of highland indigenous tribes in North Cotabato.

Tentorio had stood against supposed multi-million business ventures of outsiders that were feared to dislocate the indigenous tribes in Arakan and and nearby towns. - John Unson