Rev. Fausto Tentorio was laid to rest at the Roman Catholic bishop’s compound in southern Kidapawan city, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from where police say he was shot at least 10 times as he was about to travel to a clergy’s meeting last Monday.

Police say a gunman shot the 59-year-old Tentorio from about a yard (meter) away inside his parish compound in North Cotabato’s Arakan township and then fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice. Police still have no suspects.

Rev. Gianni Re of Italy’s Pontifical Institute for Foreign Mission, or PIME, said Tentorio had long experience fighting for the rights of indigenous Filipino tribes in the country’s south. Environmental activists suspect he was killed for his work.

Tentorio was buried in a coffin made of wood from a mahogany tree he himself planted many years ago, as was his wish, Re said.

A native of Santa Maria Hoe town in Italy’s Lecco province, Tentorio had been in the Philippines for the past 32 years. He was the third PIME missionary killed in the country and he was buried near the grave of another Italian missionary priest, Tulio Favali, who was slain in 1985.

The funeral procession included some of Tentorio’s family members, North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Mendoza and Italy’s ambassador to the Philippines, Luca Fornari, who had condemned the killing.