KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews / 17 Oct) – The cry for justice still continues and grows a year after the death of Italian missionary Fausto “Pops” Tentorio of the Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions (PIME), said his fellow missionary Peter Geremia.
But Geremia could not hide his disappointment on some Department of Justice officials who had earlier promised to come over to discuss the case. None of them paid a visit.
“It’s been a year since we’ve been calling an investigation but we got no results. Justice delayed, justice denied,” lamented the Italian priest after a mass held beside the cemetery inside the compound of the Diocese of Kidapawan on Wednesday. Read More »
Fr. Fausto Tentorio was gunned down while about to board his car inside the parish compound in Arakan, North Cotabato on October 17, 2011. Some suspects were arrested but a year later, no case has been filed in court.
Parishioners of Fr. Fausto Tentorio accused the military to be behind the killing. The military claimed the slain priest was “close” to the communist rebels but denied responsibility for the murder.
Thousands of friends and sympathizers joined the four-kilometer funeral march from Kidapawan City Cathedral to the cemetery inside the Diocese of Kidapawan Compound on October 25, 2011. Fr. Pops was buried beside fellow Italian missionary Fr. Tulio Favali, who was killed by dreaded vigilante group Ilaga 26 years ago.
ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/24 October) – In the last five years, slain Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio had been consistently writing emails to his family back in Leco, Italy every week.
His elder brother Felici, who arrived in this town on Saturday, told Mindanews that he usually wrote emails to Fr. Tentorio on Fridays or Saturdays. And the priest would usually reply on Mondays. But when Felici checked his emails on October 17, Monday, he was wondering why there was none from his brother.
Soon after Felici received a call from Fr. Giovanni Re, Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) regional superior, that Fr. Tentorio had been gunned down. Read More »
Gunman shot priest at close range, made sure he was dead
ARAKAN, North Cotabato – Silence filled the Our Mother of Perpetual Help parish as hundreds of people gathered and waited for Fr. Fausto Tentorio’s body to arrive from the nearby funeral parlor. Everyone looked shocked while some wept on the sidelines.
A crowd gathered when the blue casket arrived — albeit temporary pending the completion of the construction of the casket from the mahogany tree he planted (see other story) – and was positioned fronting the altar. When the lid of “Tatay Pops’” casket was finally opened at 5:15 p.m., the silence was broken by a chorus of wailing mourners — children, women and men, teachers and farmers, Lumads. (Read Full Story)
ARAKAN, North Cotabato (MindaNews/24 October) – In the last five years, slain Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio had been consistently writing emails to his family back in Leco, Italy every week.
