BISHOP CONDEMNS MOCKERY OF SLAIN CAGAYAN PRIEST
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas has condemned the public mockery of murdered Cagayan priest, Fr. Mark Anthony Ventura, saying it has hurt the family and friends the priest left behind.
“Vulgarity has taken another twist—to mock the memory of the murdered, to calumniate a faithful departed who cannot defend himself, to gossip about the dead, to add inconsiderate sorrow to the grief of those they have left behind,” Villegas said in his message for the Feast of Mary Help of Christians on Thursday.
Matrix
Although he made no direct references, Villegas appeared to be reacting to President Duterte’s remarks at Tabogon town fiesta in Cebu province on May 20, that alluded to illicit affairs allegedly committed by Ventura.
Mr. Duterte also showed a matrix on the possible motive for the killing that supposedly revealed the priest’s “affairs with the wives of a vice mayor, a policeman, a soldier, and a businessman.”
He did not name the priest but the matrix caught on camera showed Ventura’s photograph.
The 37-year-old priest was shot dead on April 29 after cele- brating Mass in Gattaran town, Cagayan. The police have yet to arrest a suspect.
On Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the President was indeed referring to Ventura but he did not know whyMr. Duterte gave out this information about the priest.
Asked why the probe should focus on Ventura’s alleged illicit affairs when the missionary priest was known to be antimining, Roque said he was sure the police were looking at all angles, but noted that the “love” aspect was there.
Roque also said a former Cagayan governor, who visited Malacañang on Monday, confirmed the information about Ventura. He did not name the official.
Villegas said: “Is murder to be excused due to the unproven immorality of the killed? Tama na (Enough)!”
Church workers in Cagayan took offense because of the matrix.
‘Unfounded rumors’
In Tuguegarao City, Archbishop Sergio Utleg said that they “do not want to speculate on what the reasons are for Ventura’s death.”
“Neither do we want that the investigation be muddled by the spreading of unfounded rumors and malicious insinuations,” Utleg said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said the Catholic Church expected the police to do their job properly and come out with evidence that would help arrest the people who ordered Ventura’s murder.
He said priests in Cagayan had demanded “the real truth” on the murder as he described Ventura as “a dedicated priest, a zealous pastor, a missionary to the peripheries ... [and] beloved by all who knew him.”
Ventura’s family has yet to issue a statement. But Fr. Bernice Rio, parish priest of the St. Peter Gonzales of Thelmo parish in Aparri town, appealed to the government to respect Ventura’s grieving family.
Ventura’s friends were also outraged. Neil Earl Ambida said loose talk spinning out of Mr. Duterte’s remarks was uncalled for. He said only the police should discuss the results of their investigation.
‘Mortal sin’
“Murder is murder. You cannot kill. That is a mortal sin in the eyes of God and of the people,” Ambida added.
When asked, Senior Supt. Warren Gaspar Tolito, Cagayan police director, said there was a “big possibility that the reason for the killing was a woman.”
But Tolito said not all of the information that Mr. Duterte released in Cebu came from the Cagayan police.
Kurt de la Peña, a Cagayan resident, said: “I heard so many versions of the possible motives for the killing. It’s hard to believe any of these ... as well as President Duterte’s [theory].”
Another priest said Mr. Duterte’s remarks “caused pain to people who loved the priest.”