SANTIAGO, Cagayan, Philippines — Probers are eyeing a grudge as the motive for the killing of Catholic priest Mark Ventura in Gattaran, Cagayan on Sunday.
At a press conference yesterday, Chief Superintendent Jose Marion Espino, Cagayan police director, presented the computer-generated image of one of the suspects.
Espino said the task force created to investigate the killing ruled out Ventura’s anti-mining stand. He said black sand mining had been stopped in Cagayan, adding that the people involved in it no longer had the capability to pursue such act.
Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg said Ventura’s stand on anti-mining is “not too critical to warrant his murder.”
The involvement of New People’s Army (NPA) rebels was also ruled out. “The manner and post-execution response were different from how the NPA... liquidates their targets,” Espino said.
Probers said the killing was not work-related, referring to Ventura’s stint as director of the Lyceum of Lallo.
Ventura, 36, was shot after celebrating mass in a gymnasium in Barangay Piña West.
Espino said they have yet to determine the identities of the assailants, believed to be guns-for-hire.
“This could be resolved with digital forensic processing of the cellular phones of the victim that were recovered at the crime scene,” Espino said.
Initial investigation showed the assailants asked about Ventura’s whereabouts at a church three barangays away from where the incident occurred.
“Upon learning that Fr. Ventura went to Barangay Piña West, they followed him... It only showed that the suspects do not personally know the victim, which is a trademark of hired killers,” Espino said.
A reward of P300,000 was offered by the Cagayan Valley police and family of Ventura for information leading to the arrest of the assailants.
Bells in churches in Manila will continue to toll every night for Ventura and other victims of killings in the country, according to Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle. – With Raymund Catindig, Edu Punay