Slay suspect bares motive for killing of Fr. Pops
By Inquirer Mindanao, Julie Alipala, Marlon Ramos, Williamor Magbanua
December 30th, 2011

  Italian priest Fausto “Fr. Pops” Tentorio was killed allegedly for his strong objection to a proposed hydropower project in the Arakan part of Pulangui River, a military officer said Thursday.

Colonel Leopoldo Galon, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command based in Davao City, said this was the initial confession of the suspect who was arrested yesterday for the murder of Tentorio in October.

“Alleged masterminds are wealthy landowners in Arakan who stand to profit from the hydropower project, which Fr. Pops alongside his ‘lumad’ organizations and other left-leaning groups are actively opposing,” Galon said in a text message.

Fr. Sebastiano D’Ambra, who belongs to the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (Pime), said he would reserve his comments on the arrest of the supposed suspect.

He doubted claims that Ato had been identified by witnesses as the one who shot and killed Tentorio, a member of Pime.

“As far as I know there was no clear witness to the crime. Unlike Tulio (Favali) who was killed in front of many witnesses, Tentorio was killed with hardly a witness,” D’Ambra, who is based in Zamboanga City, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by text message.

National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) agents arrested a Jimmy Ato during a police-backed operation in Kulaman Valley village in Arakan, North Cotabato, at around 3 a.m. on Thursday, said Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas, North Cotabato police chief.

A military officer privy to the arrest said Ato was captured at around 5 a.m.

The military officer, who requested anonymity for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said the suspect had been brought to Cagayan de Oro City and then flown to Manila on the same day.

Galon said Ato’s brother, identified as Robert, had eluded arrest when NBI agents chanced upon the duo in Iwak-iwak sub-village.

Tentorio was preparing to leave for a clergy meeting in Kidapawan City on the morning of October 17 when attacked by a masked man.

Although Ato was wearing a crash helmet at the time of the shooting, he was seen by witnesses near Tentorio’s parish church before and after the killing, said Virgilio Mendez, chief of the NBI in Region 12.

“In fact, one of our witnesses was able to talk to him before Tentorio was murdered,” Mendez said.

Fr. Peter Geremia, a Pime missionary based in Central Mindanao, thanked authorities for the arrest of the suspected killer of Tentorio.

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