Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Manila (Agenzia Fides) - The Special Task Force is investigating the death of Fr. Fausto Tentorio, killed on October 17 in Arakan (Mindanao) and the identikit of two killers has been traced, say local sources of Fides. According to the same sources, military reports indicate that two other foreign missionaries resident in Mindanao are being targeted by criminal groups and need special protection. The security forces "do not underestimate these reports and keep watch on the safety of the citizens of Mindanao, to prevent any further acts of violence against civilians, religious and missionaries", said Colonel Arnulfo Burgos, a spokesman of the Armed Forces.
Meanwhile, a network of civil society groups such as "Bayan Muna" ("First the people") asks the government for a parliamentary inquiry into the killing of Fr. Fausto, given the rumors of a possible liability of members of the army. The network remembers the long trail of extrajudicial killings, impunity for most of them, of activists and human rights defenders in the Philippines: the PIME missionary was the 54th since May 2010, when the presidential term of Benigno Aquino Jr started. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 25/10/2011)
