Fiscals revalidating probe report on Italian priest slay

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines   â€“ State prosecutors have started revalidating the investigation report on the Oct. 17, 2011 killing of Italian priest Fausto Tentorio in Arakan town this province to put a closure to the case.

Al Calica, Region 12 chief prosecutor, said the purpose of their on-site validation process on Wednesday was to determine which of the conflicting testimonies of witnesses could stand in the litigation of the culprits.

Calica and his subordinates inspected the premises of the Arakan Catholic church, where Tentorio was gunned down, to study the different narrations of the witnesses on how they saw the priest killed with a handgun and how his attackers escaped from the scene.

One witness recalled seeing a lone gunman escape on board a blue Honda XRM motorcycle, while another tagged two men as behind the attack, fleeing on board a Yamaha DT sports bike.

The two accounts also differed on where Tentorio’s attackers were headed to after the crime.

Calica said they need to have an airtight case against Tentorio’s killers based on the factual accounts of witnesses.

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

The military earlier had insinuated that the New People’s Army was responsible for the Tentorio slay.

Arakan residents, however, were convinced that the Italian priest was killed for his staunch advocacy for the protection of the culture and ancestral domain of highland indigenous tribes in North Cotabato.

Tentorio had stood against supposed multimillion-peso business ventures of outsiders that were feared to dislocate the indigenous tribes in Arakan and surrounding towns.

“The people should give us enough time to finish our task of resolving this case,” Calica said.