Priest's death threats
December 22, 2011 · By Nick Bramhill
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
A brave Irish missionary has told how he has received death threats from the thugs (like those) he believes are responsible for a fellow priest’s murder.
Fr Shay Cullen, who runs a charity to help the plight of children caught up in the sex industry in the Philippines, is also at the helm of a human rights campaign to protect indigenous tribal people from the damaging environmental effect of mining in the mineral-rich country. The Dublin-born cleric worked closely with the (same human rights organization) connected with Fr Fausto Tentorio, an Italian missionary, who had dedicated his life to upholding the rights of the natives of the remote Diocese of Kidapawan.
Earlier this year the pair stepped up their campaign as unscrupulous mining giants took away the lands (of the Ingenious People) and threatened their ancient way of life in the hunt for precious metals like gold, silver and copper.
Fr Tentorio, 59, paid the ultimate price for his stance when he was assassinated in October.
But fearless Fr Cullen has vowed to continue (the anti-mining campaign) like his late colleague’s work, despite receiving threats from death squads.
He said: ”It was a senseless and cowardly murder but I won’t be stopping my work because of that. These people (the Indigenous people), have no voice and no one to stand up for them. I have to be very, very careful when I go out. I do get death threats….. if I carried on campaigning against the mining and went to a certain area, something might happen to me. But it’s not going to stop me.
”It does worry me at times, but I’ve learned to be very careful and watch where I go.”
Fr Cullen, best known for the charity PREDA he set up in the impoverished country 40 years ago to help victims of the child sex industry, said pimps and ‘sex mafia bosses’ have also given him death threats. But the three-times Nobel Peace Prize nominated missionary and his 80-strong team said that with an estimated 60,000 children caught up in the sex industry, his work is as vital as it ever was.
