The movement called “Idol Ko si Fr. Pops” commemorates death of Fr. Fausto Tentorio in North Cotabato’s Arakan town.
NORTH COTABATO (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 18, 2012) – Various Filipino groups seeking justice for murdered Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio commemorated the priest’s brutal death in North Cotabato province.
The movement called “Idol Ko si Fr. Pos” (IKPM) blamed the military for the murder of Tentorio who was shot outside his convent in Arakan town in October 17, 2011. The groups, which held a cultural production in Arakan, expressed their dissent on the slow progress of the murder case.
Erwin Panezales, a spokesman for the Student Christian Movement of the Philippines, and convenor of IKPM, said the priest was one of the “clear-cut” victims of the government’s anti-insurgency campaign codenamed “Oplan Bayanihan.”
“This has no difference in the previous Oplan Bantay Laya during (President Gloria) Arroyo’s reign in power which claimed thousands of socially-active civilians. The counter-insurgency program is just another scheme concocted by the leadership (of Aquino) under the US prescription, in their attempt to again pacify the growing opposition from the masses,” Panezales said.
“It reveals its true intention on the increasing records of the extra-judicial killings, enforced disappearances, threat, intimidation and harassment and a concrete expression of a bogus Peace and Development Outreach Program held under the US-PNoy counter-insurgency program,” he added.
PNoy refers to Aquino’s nickname “Noynoy.”
Other groups accused the military of killing Tentorio who was a staunch defender of the rights of tribesmen and a known anti-mining advocate in the province. He was accused by the army as a supporter of the communist rebel group New People’s Army.
The military denied all accusations.
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