A Repost From Miko Morelos of Philippine Daily Inquirer

Revillas find police conclusion unbelievable

Mother: I did not raise them to kill each other

By Miko Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

12:22 am | Thursday, November 3rd, 2011

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A MOTHER’S LAMENTATION Genelyn Magsaysay weeps over the body of her eldest son Ramgen Jose Bautista as the Revilla clan rallies around her during the burial rites on Wednesday at the family-owned Angelus Memorial Garden in Imus, Cavite province. At left is Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla. LYN RILLON

IMUS, Cavite—Overcast skies and a brass band set the somber mood at the funeral Wednesday of Ramgen Jose Bautista, a scion of the Bautista-Revilla clan whose murder has been blamed on his siblings.

Echoing the grieving family’s sentiment, Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. cast doubt on the conclusion of police investigators that Ramon Joseph “RJ” Bautista, 18, and Ma. Ramona Belen Bautista, 22, had masterminded the crime.

“[W]e are appealing, if it’s possible, [for] a reinvestigation. It’s unbelievable that [the crime] could be done by our siblings,” the senator told reporters after the funeral. “The family thinks [the conclusion of the investigation] is unbelievable. They could not have possibly done it.”

The music of the band drowned the wails of the mourners led by the mother, Genelyn Magsaysay, who had to lean on family members to keep her footing as she wept over the white casket bearing the body of her eldest son.

Among the mourners at the family-owned Angelus Memorial Park were Revilla Jr. and his wife, Cavite Representative Lani Mercado.

At 3 p.m., the officiating priest said the final prayers and Revilla Jr., a half-brother of the deceased, signaled to have the casket closed and lowered to the ground.

The senator’s son Jolo burst into tears as his uncle’s casket was closed shortly after a family member put what looked like a Johnny Walker Black Label Scotch box inside.

Ramgen Bautista (Ram Revilla in show biz), 23, was stabbed and shot in the family residence in Parañaque City late on October 28. His girlfriend, Janelle Manahan, survived the attack but remains in critical condition at a hospital in Muntinlupa City.

‘They’re innocent’

Earlier in the day, Magsaysay lamented that her younger children had been charged with the murder of their brother.

She maintained that like other families, they had their “differences” at home. But that did not mean that her children had “the capacity to kill their sibling.”

“I did not raise them to kill each other,” the mother told reporters. “I did not raise them to be rude.”

RJ and Ramona Bautista were included in the charge sheet that the police filed with the Parañaque Prosecutor’s Office on Tuesday afternoon. He was arrested early on Tuesday shortly after leaving his brother’s wake; she is at large, according to police.

Two men whom witnesses had named as the gunmen—Michael Jay Cruz Altea and Roy Francis Tolisoro—were arrested on Monday.

Police are still looking for at least three other persons, the alleged coconspirators.

Magsaysay appealed to the police to find her son’s “killers,” and sought public assistance to disprove the police conclusion that her two other children were the masterminds.

She insisted on their “innocence” and said: “I don’t know who could have done this, what kind of anger they might have against us, our family.

“Please hunt down the real killers. Don’t use our family. Don’t give us the runaround.”

‘Tough for them’

Chief Inspector Fergen Torred, head of the intelligence unit of the Parañaque police, said he understood the family’s sentiment and the grief they were experiencing.

He said their sentiments had been “anticipated.”

“They lost a loved one and yet the persons responsible for that [loss] are among them. It’s tough for them,” Torred said in a phone interview.

He expressed hope that any doubts in the investigation would be settled when city prosecutors release their recommendation within the week.

Torred said that while he considered the case “closed” at this point, some investigators were still sifting through Ramgen Bautista’s text messages and other evidence and testimonies to make sure they had not left stones unturned.

He said the arrest of RJ Bautista was valid, contrary to the claim of the latter’s lawyer who had threatened to file charges against the police in a radio interview.

“If there are questions on what we did, we welcome any administrative case and we will answer that in the proper forum,” he said.

Torred also denied that the killing concerned the P1-million allowance that the siblings were reportedly receiving every month from their father, former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr.

He said that the motive of the crime was “personal” and that the charges against RJ and Ramona Bautista and at least five others were based on “credible” testimonies that the investigators had pieced together.

‘Investigate properly’

Revilla Jr. said that he would let the law “take its course” and that he was leaving the investigation to the authorities.

He said he was asking them only one thing: “Make sure you investigate properly. Make sure that what you are doing is right.”

But the senator’s talent manager, Lolit Solis, said he was “disappointed” with how the investigation went.

“Bong thinks this is the result of the family’s decision to give a P500,000 reward [for information leading to the arrest of the killers],” Solis told the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

“He felt bad that their other siblings were dragged into this. He’s worried whether the two youngsters could ever recover from trauma because of this. He is asking the police to be thorough in their investigation,” she said.


Reposted From Miko Morelos of Philippine Daily Inquirer

A Repost From Agence France-Presse/Philippine Daily Inquirer

10,000 flee fighting in Mindanao

Agence France-Presse

12:15 pm | Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

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MANILA, Philippines – About 10,000 people have fled their homes amid fighting between Moro rebels and government forces in the southern Philippines, a civil defense official said Tuesday.

The displaced population accounts for about one in seven residents of the towns of Payao, Alicia and Talusan on Mindanao Island, home of a decades-old Muslim insurgency, said provincial disaster monitoring chief Adriano Fuego.

The government said the fighting and the evacuations were an offshoot of a military operation against “lawless elements” engaged in kidnappings, but Muslim rebels have alleged their forces have been attacked as well.

“There was advance news, like text messages on the cellphones they [rebels] would attack the municipalities. There were text messages going around saying other municipalities would be attacked,” Fuego told Agence France-Presse.

Residents took refuge with their relatives shortly before Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces moved into parts of their towns, preventing potential civilian casualties, he added.

MILF fighters occupied schools in remote areas of the southern island of Mindanao over the weekend, triggering military air strikes and a ground assault on Monday that the government said left two soldiers and six gunmen dead.

The same group of rebels targeted by the air strikes was blamed for ambushes that killed four soldiers and four policemen in the same remote area of Mindanao on Thursday last week.

Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said Tuesday that soldiers were still advancing on the positions of the gunmen in the area.

Reposted From Agence France-Presse/Philippine Daily Inquirer

A Repost From Julie Alipala of Philippine Daily Inquirer

19 soldiers slain in Basilan

MILF: Our forces had edge, went for the kill

By Julie Alipala
Inquirer Mindanao

12:18 am | Thursday, October 20th, 2011

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‘THEY KEPT COMING’ A soldier carries a wounded comrade airlifted by helicopter from Al-Barka, Basilan, for treatment in Zamboanga City on Tuesday. At least 19 soldiers of the Special Action Forces were killed in a clash with Moro rebels. A survivor of the ambush said they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. AP

The soldiers were running out of magazines preloaded with bullets and yet Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters kept on coming, said a member of the Army’s Special Forces who survived a nine-hour clash in Al-Barka, Basilan province.

The encounter on Tuesday left 19 soldiers dead.

Private First Class Arnel Balili said that while some 90 Moro rebels were advancing, he and 39 other members of the Special Forces had to spend time loading fresh bullets into empty magazines so they could return fire.

The soldiers were overwhelmed. “We were only 40. There were more of them,” Balili, who was among the 11 wounded soldiers, said from a hospital bed in Zamboanga City.

When the smoke cleared, 12 soldiers lay dead, among them, three junior officers.

Twelve other soldiers were wounded, one of whom would later die in a hospital, and 10 more were initially declared missing but an MILF official said six of the missing soldiers were found dead yesterday.

Command conference

The encounter prompted President Benigno Aquino III to call for a command conference with the military and police.

“I have called for a command conference on Friday when the secretary of national defense arrives to precisely tackle the issue,” the President said in a short statement.

The command conference will be held in Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

In a statement, Lieutenant General Raymundo Ferrer, head of the Western Mindanao Command (Westmincom), confirmed that 19 soldiers were killed in the encounter that lasted from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Flags were flown at half-staff in Camp Aguinaldo and all other major military camps in honor of the slain soldiers.

6 rebels killed

Mohagher Iqbal, MILF spokesperson, gave a bigger number of military fatalities. Iqbal said the military lost 22 men and the MILF six members.

In Camp Aquinaldo, the Army spokesperson, Colonel Antonio Parlade, said wounded soldiers reported that they saw their comrades captured alive after running out of ammunition.

“They were captured and then killed. So they murdered the six,” Parlade said.

He said one soldier remained missing and a wounded soldier was rescued by Scout Rangers.

Iqbal said no soldier was being held hostage in Al-Barka.

The bodies of the six soldiers had been retrieved by members of the Al-Barka police, he said.

Trap

Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, the spokesperson of Westmincom based in Zamboanga City, said the soldiers were sent to Al-Barka to check reports that armed men, including Dan Laksaw Asnawi, were holding kidnap victims.

Asnawi was among those involved in the beheading of 14 Marines during a 2007 clash, also in Al-Barka. He was arrested in the aftermath of the beheading but escaped from the Basilan provincial jail in December 2009 with 30 other inmates.

Cabangbang said the armed men indeed included Asnawi, who the MILF confirmed was an MILF commander under the 114th Base Command.

Silent, empty road

Balili said that while his group was on its way to Barangay Cambug at around 6 a.m. to check on the presence of armed men, the surroundings were eerily silent and the road was almost empty.

He said his group met only four people along the way and had no idea that the armed men were just nearby. “We were almost surrounded by then,” he said.

When the firing started, Balili said the soldiers were overwhelmed by the sheer number of the rebels. “We were not running out of bullets. But we had to load them into empty magazines to be able to continue firing,” he said.

Rebels knew terrain

Iqbal said only a platoon of MILF rebels fought the soldiers in Al-Barka. A platoon has about 30 men.

He said the MILF recovered 22 firearms—four M-203 rifles, five machine guns and 13 M-16 rifles from the soldiers.

Iqbal said the soldiers were not even outnumbered. “It so happened that our forces were better positioned and they knew the terrain,” he said.

Cabangbang acknowledged that the soldiers had problems with the terrain. He also said that some of the soldiers sent to the area were still undergoing scuba training, which has nothing to do with land combat.

Cabangbang said reinforcements were sent to the area to help the embattled Special Forces soldiers. The military also pounded the position of the rebels until late evening while the bodies of the slain soldiers remained uncollected from the encounter site.

Asked why it took the military 18 hours to retrieve the bodies, Cabangbang said the area had to be secured first.

He said Scout Rangers were then sent deeper into the area to retrieve the bodies. These had to be carried to a pickup area on foot.

The bodies were then flown to Tabiawan in Isabela City before they were shipped to Zamboanga City.

At about 10 a.m., the bodies of the soldiers were unloaded from a Navy boat at the Majini Pier inside the Naval Forces Westmin headquarters as the Army chief, Lieutenant General Arturo Ortiz, was having a closed-door meeting with Ferrer.

Blame game

Iqbal said the military should be faulted for what happened in Al-Barka.

“It was a deliberate attack by the military and we are filing a protest-complaint before the International Monitoring Team and ceasefire committees against the military for truce violation,” he said.

Iqbal said the Al-Barka encounter showed that the military had no regard for the peace process. He cited the October 15 clash in Payao, Zamboanga Sibugay, which he said was also prompted by a military attack.

No intrusion

In Al-Barka, the military knew it was assaulting an MILF camp and not just a temporary position of the MILF, Iqbal said.

Cabangbang said the troops did not intrude on a rebel stronghold and were about 4 kilometers from it when they were fired upon by the rebels, prompting the troops to fight back.

The military operation was supposed to be “strike and withdraw,” he said.

In a statement, Ferrer said the military was not at fault.

“It is apparent that the encounter took place outside of the MILF’s area of temporary stay,” he said.

Ferrer said this belied the MILF statement that the military violated the ceasefire accord. On the contrary, he said the MILF should be held liable for what occurred on Tuesday.

As of Wednesday, some 1,500 civilians had left their homes because of shelling by the military, said Basilan Vice Gov. Al Rasheed Sakalahul.

The 11,000-strong MILF has waged a rebellion since 1978 for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.

Malaysian-brokered peace talks between the rebels and the Philippine government received a major boost in August when President Aquino met MILF chair Murad Ebrahim in Tokyo to bolster the negotiations.

The rebels, however, rejected a government proposal for Muslim autonomy when talks resumed a few weeks later in Malaysia but they said they would continue with the talks.

The rebellion has left about 150,000 people dead, with most of the deaths occurring in the 1970s when an all-out war raged.

Reposted From Julie Alipala of Philippine Daily Inquirer

A Repost From Philippine Daily Inquirer

Italian missionary’s slay shocks Church

Lone gunman kills priest near convent

By Carlo Agamon, Jocelyn R. Uy, Williamor Magbanua
Inquirer Mindanao, Philippine Daily Inquirer

11:52 pm | Monday, October 17th, 2011

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30 YEARS IN MINDANAO Undated handout photo of Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio who was shot dead outside a church in Arakan, North Cotabato, by a lone gunman armed with a pistol equipped with a silencer. PHOTO COURTESY OF PIME

ARAKAN, North Cotabato—Eight years ago, he eluded anticommunist gunmen by hiding inside a small cabinet made of bamboo. On Monday, a lone assassin with a gun equipped with a silencer shot him eight times as he was getting into his pickup truck outside a convent.

In a broad daylight murder that stunned members of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as government officials, Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio—fondly known as “Father Pops”—was gunned down in a church compound in Arakan town while a flag-raising ceremony was going on nearby.

The gunman, wearing a crash helmet, casually walked to a motorcycle waiting near the Mother of Perpetual Help church compound and sped away with a companion, witnesses said.

Tentorio, 59, was declared dead at the hospital—the third Italian priest and the third member of the Vatican-run Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) to have been killed in Mindanao in the past 26 years.

He had been working as a missionary in Mindanao for more than three decades.

Sources at the PIME said Tentorio had been receiving death threats from some groups since two years ago, prompting him at one point, when he was out of the country, to postpone his return to the Philippines for a few months.

Malacañang, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and members of the Roman Catholic Church in the country condemned the murder. The Department of Justice also ordered an immediate investigation.

Police said among those they would interview were Tentorio’s colleagues and other possible witnesses, including teachers at a preschool within the church compound who were at a flag-raising ceremony when the attack took place.

Tentorio was about to board his pickup at around 7:30 a.m. to attend a meeting of the clergy in the capital city of Kidapawan, 30 kilometers away, when the gunman approached him and fired, according to Arakan Councilor Leonardo Reovoca, a former parish worker.

Tentorio suffered eight bullet wounds from a gun of still unknown caliber.

Pastorally active

“I rushed to where he was and I saw him on the ground, blood oozing from his body,” Reovoca said.

The town councilor said he spoke with Tentorio on Sunday night and saw “nothing unusual” about him. “I cannot think of any reason why he should die this way,” Reovoca said in a radio interview.

Tentorio was a staunch antimining advocate since he started his parish work in Arakan, Reovoca said, adding that the Italian priest opposed “projects which are unsustainable and would harm the indigenous peoples.”

ARAKAN ATROCITY

Fr. Giulio Mariani, a spokesperson for PIME’s regional diocese, said Tentorio arrived in the Philippines in 1978, a year after being ordained in Italy.

He said Tentorio had dedicated his life to helping local tribesmen and other disadvantaged people. “He gave them dignity and he was very pastorally active among the poor.”

Worked for justice

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo condemned Tentorio’s killing and said over Church-run Radio Veritas: “This again taints our international image.”

Bagaforo said priests from Kidapawan, where the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operated, said the killing could have been done either by those “underground” or by a rightist group.

“There are many rightist armed groups that are offended by the work for justice being done by the Church, especially Father Fausto, who is a director for tribal Filipinos. That was his advocacy,” Bagaforo said.

Two other PIME missionaries were killed while assigned in separate areas in Mindanao several decades ago.

Fr. Tulio Favali was brutally murdered by militiamen led by Norberto Manero in 1985 in North Cotabato, while Fr. Salvatore Carzedda was killed in Zamboanga in 1992.

Death threats

Mariani said Tentorio, like other missionaries in Mindanao, had received death threats and his murder may have been linked to his efforts to help the tribespeople.

“Missionaries have always been the voice of the poor and, if you work on their behalf, sometimes you are bound to step on the toes of those who have other interests,” he said.

Founded in 1926, PIME missionaries work in 17 countries around the world, mainly in areas where there are conflicts and political turmoil, according to its website.

Mariani said there were at least 20 PIME priests in the Philippines, most of whom were in Mindanao.

PNP investigating

As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Italian Embassy had not issued a statement. An embassy source said it was still awaiting the official police report.

Malacañang on Monday night said the Philippine National Police was now looking into the murder.

“We condemn the killing of Father Tentorio,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.

He said President Benigno Aquino III was aware of the murder and had been told by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that he was now investigating the killing.

The DFA condemned the murder “in the strongest terms.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario offered his “sincerest condolences to (Tentorio’s) family and to his congregation” and added: “We call on the police to immediately bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice.”

Memories of Favali

Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales said: “It’s terrible. It brings memories of Fr. Tulio Favali.”

Rosales asked PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome to “give full attention” to solving the murder.

Rosales did not rule out the possibility that Tentorio’s mission to protect the indigenous peoples had put his life in danger.

“Advocates critical of big mining operations are gunned down with impunity while rebels demand higher taxes from these businesses at the risk of having their equipment burned. The PNP must step up its operations to protect innocent lives,” she added.

Tentorio had been in the Philippines for 33 years.

He was first assigned in the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in 1978. He was transferred to the Diocese of Kidapawan in 1980 and assigned as mission administrator in the parish of Columbio in the province of Sultan Kudarat. In 1985, he was transferred to the mission station of Arakan.

Killing the dream

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Taliño Mendoza vowed to work with other authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the killing.

In a statement, Bishop Romulo dela Cruz, D.D., of the Diocese of Kidapawan asked the parishioners of Arakan to remain calm and added: “May God touch the hearts of the perpetrator.”

Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC), said the assassin not only killed a priest but also the dreams of indigenous peoples who were scholars of the slain priest.

“He was the only hope of the indigenous peoples in Arakan. He was a father and a mentor to them. He sent them to high school and college,” Capuyan said.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), a religious order, also denounced the killing.

Describing Tentorio as a missionary who selflessly worked to help the indigenous peoples and the poor farmers, Lauro de Guia, OMI provincial superior, said: “We are saddened that there are sectors in our society who are against our work to help bring about peace in Mindanao.”

In Zamboanga City, Claretian priest Angel Calvo said the killing of Tentorio “confirmed once more that working for justice and peace is risky and dangerous in some parts of the country.”

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said: “It is always painful when someone, a man of the cloth, is killed. We ask that his death be given justice and perpetrators immediately arrested and made accountable for the crime.”

Reposted From Philippine Daily Inquirer

A Repost From Philippine Daily Inquirer

Italian missionary’s slay shocks Church

Lone gunman kills priest near convent

By Carlo Agamon, Jocelyn R. Uy, Williamor Magbanua
Inquirer Mindanao, Philippine Daily Inquirer

11:52 pm | Monday, October 17th, 2011

17 share729 702

30 YEARS IN MINDANAO Undated handout photo of Italian missionary Fausto Tentorio who was shot dead outside a church in Arakan, North Cotabato, by a lone gunman armed with a pistol equipped with a silencer. PHOTO COURTESY OF PIME

ARAKAN, North Cotabato—Eight years ago, he eluded anticommunist gunmen by hiding inside a small cabinet made of bamboo. On Monday, a lone assassin with a gun equipped with a silencer shot him eight times as he was getting into his pickup truck outside a convent.

In a broad daylight murder that stunned members of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as government officials, Italian missionary Fr. Fausto Tentorio—fondly known as “Father Pops”—was gunned down in a church compound in Arakan town while a flag-raising ceremony was going on nearby.

The gunman, wearing a crash helmet, casually walked to a motorcycle waiting near the Mother of Perpetual Help church compound and sped away with a companion, witnesses said.

Tentorio, 59, was declared dead at the hospital—the third Italian priest and the third member of the Vatican-run Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) to have been killed in Mindanao in the past 26 years.

He had been working as a missionary in Mindanao for more than three decades.

Sources at the PIME said Tentorio had been receiving death threats from some groups since two years ago, prompting him at one point, when he was out of the country, to postpone his return to the Philippines for a few months.

Malacañang, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and members of the Roman Catholic Church in the country condemned the murder. The Department of Justice also ordered an immediate investigation.

Police said among those they would interview were Tentorio’s colleagues and other possible witnesses, including teachers at a preschool within the church compound who were at a flag-raising ceremony when the attack took place.

Tentorio was about to board his pickup at around 7:30 a.m. to attend a meeting of the clergy in the capital city of Kidapawan, 30 kilometers away, when the gunman approached him and fired, according to Arakan Councilor Leonardo Reovoca, a former parish worker.

Tentorio suffered eight bullet wounds from a gun of still unknown caliber.

Pastorally active

“I rushed to where he was and I saw him on the ground, blood oozing from his body,” Reovoca said.

The town councilor said he spoke with Tentorio on Sunday night and saw “nothing unusual” about him. “I cannot think of any reason why he should die this way,” Reovoca said in a radio interview.

Tentorio was a staunch antimining advocate since he started his parish work in Arakan, Reovoca said, adding that the Italian priest opposed “projects which are unsustainable and would harm the indigenous peoples.”

ARAKAN ATROCITY

Fr. Giulio Mariani, a spokesperson for PIME’s regional diocese, said Tentorio arrived in the Philippines in 1978, a year after being ordained in Italy.

He said Tentorio had dedicated his life to helping local tribesmen and other disadvantaged people. “He gave them dignity and he was very pastorally active among the poor.”

Worked for justice

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo condemned Tentorio’s killing and said over Church-run Radio Veritas: “This again taints our international image.”

Bagaforo said priests from Kidapawan, where the communist New People’s Army (NPA) operated, said the killing could have been done either by those “underground” or by a rightist group.

“There are many rightist armed groups that are offended by the work for justice being done by the Church, especially Father Fausto, who is a director for tribal Filipinos. That was his advocacy,” Bagaforo said.

Two other PIME missionaries were killed while assigned in separate areas in Mindanao several decades ago.

Fr. Tulio Favali was brutally murdered by militiamen led by Norberto Manero in 1985 in North Cotabato, while Fr. Salvatore Carzedda was killed in Zamboanga in 1992.

Death threats

Mariani said Tentorio, like other missionaries in Mindanao, had received death threats and his murder may have been linked to his efforts to help the tribespeople.

“Missionaries have always been the voice of the poor and, if you work on their behalf, sometimes you are bound to step on the toes of those who have other interests,” he said.

Founded in 1926, PIME missionaries work in 17 countries around the world, mainly in areas where there are conflicts and political turmoil, according to its website.

Mariani said there were at least 20 PIME priests in the Philippines, most of whom were in Mindanao.

PNP investigating

As of 4 p.m. Monday, the Italian Embassy had not issued a statement. An embassy source said it was still awaiting the official police report.

Malacañang on Monday night said the Philippine National Police was now looking into the murder.

“We condemn the killing of Father Tentorio,” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said.

He said President Benigno Aquino III was aware of the murder and had been told by Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo that he was now investigating the killing.

The DFA condemned the murder “in the strongest terms.”

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario offered his “sincerest condolences to (Tentorio’s) family and to his congregation” and added: “We call on the police to immediately bring the perpetrators of this dastardly act to justice.”

Memories of Favali

Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Loretta Ann Rosales said: “It’s terrible. It brings memories of Fr. Tulio Favali.”

Rosales asked PNP Director General Nicanor Bartolome to “give full attention” to solving the murder.

Rosales did not rule out the possibility that Tentorio’s mission to protect the indigenous peoples had put his life in danger.

“Advocates critical of big mining operations are gunned down with impunity while rebels demand higher taxes from these businesses at the risk of having their equipment burned. The PNP must step up its operations to protect innocent lives,” she added.

Tentorio had been in the Philippines for 33 years.

He was first assigned in the Archdiocese of Zamboanga in 1978. He was transferred to the Diocese of Kidapawan in 1980 and assigned as mission administrator in the parish of Columbio in the province of Sultan Kudarat. In 1985, he was transferred to the mission station of Arakan.

Killing the dream

North Cotabato Governor Emmylou Lala Taliño Mendoza vowed to work with other authorities to arrest the perpetrators of the killing.

In a statement, Bishop Romulo dela Cruz, D.D., of the Diocese of Kidapawan asked the parishioners of Arakan to remain calm and added: “May God touch the hearts of the perpetrator.”

Norma Capuyan, chairperson of the Apo Sandawa Lumadnong Panaghiusa sa Cotabato (ASLPC), said the assassin not only killed a priest but also the dreams of indigenous peoples who were scholars of the slain priest.

“He was the only hope of the indigenous peoples in Arakan. He was a father and a mentor to them. He sent them to high school and college,” Capuyan said.

The Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), a religious order, also denounced the killing.

Describing Tentorio as a missionary who selflessly worked to help the indigenous peoples and the poor farmers, Lauro de Guia, OMI provincial superior, said: “We are saddened that there are sectors in our society who are against our work to help bring about peace in Mindanao.”

In Zamboanga City, Claretian priest Angel Calvo said the killing of Tentorio “confirmed once more that working for justice and peace is risky and dangerous in some parts of the country.”

Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad said: “It is always painful when someone, a man of the cloth, is killed. We ask that his death be given justice and perpetrators immediately arrested and made accountable for the crime.”

A Repost From Aurea Calica of The Philippine Star

Palace distances self from poll fraud probe
By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star) Updated October 07, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (126)

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is keeping its distance from pronouncements by Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes that former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo might spend Christmas in jail if indicted for election sabotage.

“Malacañang is hands off on the matter because they are still appreciating, evaluating the evidence. So let’s wait for that. We are also awaiting the results of their investigation,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing yesterday.

“We are not privy to the deliberations going on in the task force. So it’s a statement made by Brillantes. So we don’t know the stage at which they are right now.”

A joint Comelec-Department of Justice (DOJ) task force is establishing probable cause to charge the Arroyo couple with election sabotage for allegedly masterminding cheating in the 2007 senatorial elections.

Lacierda stressed there would be no special treatment for the Arroyos if they are indicted and detained for a non-bailable election offense.

“These are being studied. We don’t know what the status is right now. We don’t even know when it’s going to happen. But, nonetheless, everyone has to go through the legal process. If it is filed before the courts, it will be subject to the discretion of the courts and once it’s filed with the court, we know that we’re all hands off when it comes to that,” Lacierda said.

He said he he did not know why Brillantes made such a statement.

“Maybe because he’s involved in the task force, he is in a better position to dictate the pace by which the task force is undergoing the investigation,” Lacierda said. “So I leave it to them.”

Obvious bias

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Mr. Arroyo said yesterday Brillantes should resign for his obvious bias against his client.

Lawyer Inocencio Ferrer said Brillantes, who is leading a joint investigation with the DOJ on alleged electoral fraud committed by his client and Mrs. Arroyo, cannot be trusted to make a fair judgment because of his repeated public statements even when the probe is not finished.

He also cited reports that Brillantes was election lawyer for various opposition candidates against the previous administration as well as the notorious Ampatuan clan in the past elections.

“Brillantes should resign because his public pronouncement of the guilt of the Arroyos and his statement that the Arroyos will spend Christmas in jail before any complaint has been filed and prior to a trial have clearly shown his bias, prejudgment and clear conflict of interest,” Ferrer said in a text message.

“He should resign to protect the institution of the Comelec,” he said.

Brillantes earlier said the testimony of former Maguindanao provincial administrator Norie Unas could help prove the Arroyos’ involvement in alleged manipulation of votes.

He reiterated yesterday that the statement of Unas is strong and only his former boss, former Gov. Andal Ampatuan Sr., can disprove it.

In his sworn affidavit, Unas alleged that Mrs. Arroyo had ordered Ampatuan to rig the elections in Maguindanao in favor of her Team Unity (TU) senatorial bets. – With Paolo Romero, Sheila Crisostomo

Reposted From Aurea Calica of The Philippine Star

A Repost From Marlon Ramos of Philippine Daily Inquirer

Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, wife face P73.8M tax evasion suit

By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer

12:37 pm | Tuesday, October 4th, 2011

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Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo and Angela Arroyo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Justice (DoJ) has recommended the filing of a P73.85-million tax evasion case against Ang Galing partylist Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo and his wife Angela.

In a resolution, a three-member panel of prosecutors headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lagrimas Agaran found probable cause in filing the criminal information against the Arroyos.

The 28-page resolution was issued on September 16, but was released to the media only on Tuesday.

The DoJ prosecutors indicted Arroyo for three counts of violation of Section 255 of the National Internal Revenue Code while his wife was charged with seven counts for their failure to file income tax returns.

Arroyo was also charged with three counts of failure to supply correct and accurate information in his income tax returns.

On April 7, the Bureau of Internal Revenue sued the lawmaker for his alleged “willfull attempt to evade or defeat tax” over his alleged failure to settle his tax obligations to the government in 2005, 2008 and 2009.

Arroyo’s wife, on the other hand, purportedly failed to file her income tax return from 2003 to 2009.

The BIR complaint was the first case filed in court against a member of the Arroyo family since former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finished her term last year.

Reposted From Marlon Ramos of Philippine Daily Inquirer