Suspect in Italian priest’s 2011 slay disappears
COTABATO CITY—Police and military officials in Arakan town, Cotabato province, have launched a search operation for a suspect in the 2011 murder of an Italian Catholic missionary priest following his disappearance on the eve of his surrender to the Army on Tuesday.
Maj. Reynante Pascua, Arakan police chief, said initial report gathered by investigators showed that Jonie Corbala, alias “Kumander Ering,” leader of a group of anticommunist tribal warriors, was last seen driving a motorcycle on his way home to Barangay Ganatan when allegedly seized by three armed men in Barangay Sto. Niño at 7:30 p.m. on Monday.
Corbala is one of the suspects in the murder on Oct. 17, 2011, of Fr. Fausto “Pops” Tentorio of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (Pime) in Arakan where he had been serving as the town’s parish priest and strongly advocating for indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental protection.
Bullet shells, no blood
Pascua said residents nearby heard gunshots, but they did not find Corbala, only his motorcycle by the roadside with its headlight still on and the engine running.
“He was about to surrender on Tuesday to the (Army’s) 72nd Infantry Battalion,” Pascua told Catholic Church-run radio dxND in Kidapawan City.
Pascua said Corbala’s supposed surrender was coordinated with the provincial prosecutor’s office and the Public Attorney’s Office.
As of Thursday, Pascua said he could not say for certain where Corbala could be as policemen and soldiers continue their search operation.
Police investigators recovered empty bullet shells of an M16 rifle at the site where Corbala was last seen. They did not see traces of blood and the area had no indication of any commotion.
Citing witnesses, Pascua said the three men and Corbala were last seen heading to Barangay Tumanding, also in Arakan.
Before he was linked to the killing of Tentorio, Corbala used to help the government in fighting communist rebels in Arakan and nearby areas, leading a group of tribal warriors called “Bagani.”
Warrants of arrest
He has warrants of arrest for murder, kidnapping and serious illegal detention.
Had the surrender took place, Corbala could have been the third suspect in the Tentorio killing under the authorities’ custody. The first is Jimmy Ato, alleged gunman who was arrested by National Bureau of Investigation agents at Barangay Kulaman Valley in 2011, more than two months after the attack against Tentorio.
The second is Ricardo Dorado, former village chief of Barangay Dallag, who was arrested by the police in 2021.
Tentorio was the second Italian Pime missionary felled by assassins’ bullets in Cotabato. In 1985, Fr. Tulio Favali was killed in Tulunan town by members of a local vigilante group.
