Manila: The Philippine government has formed a team to investigate the killing of Catholic priest Father Mark Venturina, as various quarters slammed the slaying as an “evil act” and a challenge to the current administration.
“The Philippine National Police (PNP) condemns in the strongest term the shooting to death of Father Mark Ventura,” Chief Superintendent Elmo Sarona, head of the PNP’s Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management said.
Father Venturina was holding Sunday service at a gymnasium in the village of Pina Weste, Gattaran town in northern Philippines’ Cagayan, when he was shot at close range by a person wearing a motorcycle helmet.
The assassin, who was riding pillion with a second suspect, immediately fled the scene amid the confusion.
Sarona was quoted in news reports as saying that they are looking into several leads into the apparent assassination, including the possibility that the priest was murdered because of his vocal opposition against mining activities in his area.
“Rest assured the task group is doing its best to getting to the bottom of this incident,” Sarona was quoted by the GMA News network.
The slaying of Father Venturina is the second in a period of five months that a priest was killed by an assassin. In December 2017 Fr. Marcelito Paez, was also killed by unidentified gunmen in Jaen, Nueva Ecija.
Senator Francis Pangilinan, a member of the political opposition, said the killing of the 37-year-old Father Ventura “has no place in a society which boasts of prioritising law and order.”
“We call on the authorities to capture and prosecute Father Ventura’s killers as soon as possible and not treat his death as just another death under investigation wherein perpetrators are never held accountable,” said Pangilinan.
Archbishop Romulo Valles, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said in a statement that the news on the killing of Father Venturina was shocking.
“We are totally shocked and in utter disbelief to hear about the brutal killing of Father Mark Ventura. We condemn this evil act! We make our appeal to the authorities to act swiftly in going after the perpetrators of this crime and to bring them to justice,” said Archbishop Valles.
There had been incidents in the past that priests opposing mining had been killed.
