MANILA, Philippines — A task force has been created to investigate the killing of Catholic priest Mark Anthony Ventura in Gattaran, Cagayan on Sunday.
Francis Elmo Sarona, Philippine National Police-Directorate for Investigation and Detection Management chief, said the Cagayan police submitted a list of possible motives for the killing, but refused to elaborate.
“We don’t want to speculate, but we will look into all the possibilities,” Sarona said. “His anti-mining advocacy may be included.”
Human rights group Karapatan said Ventura could have been targeted because he was a known anti-mining advocate in Gattaran.
Ventura was blessing children and talking to choir members after celebrating mass in a gymnasium in Barangay Piña Weste when a man wearing a helmet arrived and shot him twice.
Tuguegarao Archbishop Sergio Utleg condemned the killing and urged police to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“We appeal to authorities ... to act swiftly... There have been too many murders done with impunity in our country by motorcycle-riding assassins. May this be the last,” Utleg said.
Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said the killing of Ventura was an attack against church people “championing the welfare of the poor and marginalized.”
Ventura was the second priest to be killed in four months after Marcelito Paez who was gunned down in Jaen, Nueva Ecija in December.
“The cases of Fr. Tito and Fr. Mark are no different from the persecution... of Australian nun, human rights and peasant advocate Sister Pat Fox who now faces deportation... on charges that criminalize acts of helping the poor,” Casilao said. – Evelyn Macairan, Ding Cervantes, Kurt dela Peña, Elizabeth Marcelo