A LONE gunman shot dead an Italian priest while he was about to board his vehicle outside the convent of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Barangay Poblacion, Arakan, North Cotabato, on Monday.

Chief Supt. Agrimero Cruz Jr., National Police spokesman, said Fr. Fausto Tentorio of the Pontificio Istituto Missioni Estere (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), was shot dead at about 8:25 a.m.

Tentorio was rushed to the Antipas Medical Center but he was declared dead on arrival by attending physicians. He succumbed to three bullet wounds in the body.

“The priest was about to board his vehicle when the suspect suddenly appeared and without any provocation shot him. The still-unidentified assailant fled onboard a motorcyle,” Cruz said.

Crime scene investigators recovered three empty 9mm shells at the scene of the crime.

Tentorio is a prominent anti-mining advocate

The Zamboanga City-based Pime regional head, Fr. Giovanni Re, said Tentorio was supposed to attend a meeting at the Bishop’s Residence in Kidapawan City when a lone gunman shot him.

Re said due to the incident, Pime missionaries have set up security measures in the area but no one expressed intention to leave his post and temporarily stay in Zamboanga.

“We have coordinated with the local police and the military. But sometimes, when someone really wants to get you then nobody knows what will happen,” Re said.

Tentorio’s fellow missionary, Fr. Peter Geremia, said the victim was already in his vehicle in the garage when he was shot by a still-unidentified man armed with a pistol equipped with a sound suppressor.

The convent was next to a school and nobody noticed the incident except one who saw a man wearing a motorcycle helmet walking away from the garage.

“Nobody noticed the shooting because nobody heard the shots,” Geremia explained, adding that his fellow priests are still at a “loss” and still faced a “blank wall.”

Parishioners who were in the area rushed the priest to a nearby hospital but he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Pime Philippines disclosed that Tentorio has allegedly received death threats from unknown groups or individuals.

Two years ago, the group claimed that Tentorio postponed his return to the Philippines by two to three months owing to these threats.

Thinking it was just a simple threat, the 59-year-old prelate, who has been assigned to the Philippine since 1979, returned to the country to serve his mission.

Pime is an international society of apostolic life with more than 400 priests and 25 brothers. The institute of missionaries was founded in 1850 in Italy and opened its North American Region Headquarters in Detroit in 1947.

Meanwhile, the Roman Catholic Church strongly condemned the incident and described the killing of Tentorio as “a very sad incident.”

“A very sad incident, very painful for us because all the while we thought Kidapawan is already a peaceful place” Bishop Romulo de la Cruz of the Diocese of Kidapawan said.

De la Cruz said he and the clergy, along with the Pime missionaries, thought Fr. Tulio Favali’s death would be the last fatal incident involving foreign missionaries in Kidapawan.

The 64-year-old prelate said the military commander in the area has already called and expressed sorrow for the incident.

De la Cruz added that the military promised to help in the investigation of the case and the arrest of the perpetrator once identified.

“Hindi ko lubos maisip bakit nangyari ito. Fr Fausto is a very peaceful man…he is the parish priest of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and served as director of the diocesan program for indigenous peoples,” he said.

De la Cruz described the Italian missionary as a man who “did his job quietly.”

Tentorio’s term as a Diocesan Indigenous Peoples Director is supposed to end next year.

De la Cruz said Tentorio’s remains will be in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish for two nights for the public to pay their last respects to the missionary.

Afterward, his body will be taken to the Bishops’ Residence where a wake would be conducted.

“From there we’ll plan what to do next,” de la Cruz said.

Several Pime missionaries have been kidnapped over the years, while two others were killed also in Mindanao.

The first to be killed was Fr. Favali in Tulunan, North Cotabato, in 1985, while Fr. Salvatorre Carcedda was killed in Zamboanga in 1992.