The Department of Justice has been asked to prosecute individuals implicated to the murder of Italian missionary Fausto “Pops” Tentorio in October 2011 after a DoJ fact-finding panel recommended a reinvestigation of the case.
In a complaint filed with the DoJ, National Bureau of Investigation-Central Mindanao accused Lt. Col. Joven Gonzales and Major Mark Espiritu, and alleged members of the Bagani Special Force, a paramilitary group, for murder.
Also named respondents were Jimmy Ato alias “Ian Mateo” and “Jimmy Intar;” Robert Ato alias “Roberto Ato” and “Roberto Intar;” Jan Corbala alias “Johnny Corbala,” “Jhon Corbala;” “Jun Karbala,” and “Kumander Iring;” Nene Durado alias “Nene Dorado;” “Kaing Labi”; Joseph Basol; Edgar Enoc; Romulo Tapgos; William Buenaflor alias “WB”; alias “Katong” and several unidentified individuals including 20 members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines conducting a “bayanihan” activity near the Arakan Central Elementary School on the day Tentorio was killed.
The respondents will undergo preliminary investigation to be conducted by the DoJ prosecutors to determine the existence of probable cause for the filing of criminal charges against them in court.
Last month, the DoJ’s fact-finding panel withdrew the murder and attempted murder complaints pending before the North Cotabato Provincial Prosecutor's Office against brothers Jose Sultan Sampulna and Dima Sampulna.
The six-member panel headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong cited statements from witnesses showing the lack of evidence of complicity of the Sampulna brothers in the crime.
Tentorio, a member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, was shot dead on Oct. 17, 2011 inside his parish in Arakan town in Cotabato. Students and teachers attending a flag ceremony at the Arakan school reportedly heard gunshots and later saw the suspected gunman walking away from the church compound.
"It was highly improbable for the military personnel not to hear the gunshots which were heard by several witnesses situated inside the school," the fact-finding body said, in its investigation report.
"The inaction of the military personnel before and after the gunshots were fired reveal their complicity to the killing of Fr. Pops," it added.
The report added that Corbala, a military asset, told Durado, Labi, Basol, Enoc, and Bayawan in a meeting that the military wanted Tentorio killed because he was a supporter of the New People’s Army.
“Robert Ato, Jimmy Ato, Jan Corbata, with an unidentified motorcycle driver, and Nene Durado, with two companions on board another motorcycle, took part in the execution of the plan to kill Fr. Pops, on Oct. 17, 2011, at Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish Compound,” the panel said.
However, the panel ruled out any political angle in the death of Tentorio, who was popular among the indigenous peoples since the 1980s for his livelihood projects, education and support for campaigns against militarization.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II directed Ong’s panel in March last year to conduct a reinvestigation.