NORTH COTABATO – Members of a Protestant church have flocked to North Cotabato’s Pikit town and joined a worship service and offered prayers to those who were killed and wounded in a grenade attack just this month.
Two church members were killed and several more wounded after unidentified men on a motorcycle fired a rifle grenade on the victims during a midweek worship service at the United Church of Christ in the Philippines in Pikit town.
The UCCP identified the fatalities as Felomena Ferolin and Gina Cabiluna. And the wounded as Jeremias and Jerome Dandan, and Virginia Manolid.
Bishop Hamuel Tequis, who is assigned to South East Mindanao Jurisdictional Area, led a delegation of church leaders to Pikit where he joined the worship service. He also condemned the deadly attack on the church.
“The UCCP condemns the dastardly act of bombing the UCCP Pikit worship service; and yet, we journey to Pikit with a most important intention to comfort the bereaved and join as a presence of solidarity and support to our church members,” Bishop Tequis said.
The Bishop read messages sent to UCCP from around the world during the worship service. UCCP churches across the country also prayed for the community during their worship services. “We want to make sure that the members know that many are thinking of them and praying for them during this difficult time,” Bishop Tequis said.
He said church leaders continue to seek further information on the motive and identities of the perpetrators of the grenade attack. He said they visited the injured and expressed condolences to the families of Felomena Ferolin and Gina Cabiluna. “We also hope to support the community in gathering data and documenting accounts of what transpired in Pikit on October 8,” Bishop Tequis said.
He said the UCCP has encouraged inter-faith, tri-people efforts to build unity, justice and peace, in response to the attack.
“Many UCCP members have expressed feelings of fear, grief, and disbelief that this happened during a worship service. We must provide counsel, care, and spiritual guidance for our members. This is a moment in our faith journey, where we must choose to act for peace. And by choosing to continue to work together as Christians, Muslims and Lumads, we will seek peace based on justice in our land,” Bishop Tequis said.
Rev. Jerome Baris, National Program Coordinator for Justice, Peace and Human Rights, said UCCP General Secretary Bishop Reuel Norman Marigza has called for sober-minded vigilance and cautioned church members not to rush toward hasty judgment until the motive and identities of the attackers are known. “We will do our part to seek justice and build peace,” he said.
Bishop Marigza has strongly condemned the violent attack on the church and said no circumstance or reason can justify such deplorable act on a house of worship leading to the death and injury of worshipers.
He urged authorities to act speedily in thoroughly investigating the incident to uncover the perpetrators and their motives for this dastardly act and told followers to remain sober-minded, yet vigilant. “Even as we press for justice, let us not do anything that will further escalate the violence,” he said.
No individual or group claimed responsibility for the attack. The UCCP is a local Christian denomination that resulted from the merger of the Evangelical Church of the Philippines, the Philippine Methodist Church, the Disciples of Christ, the United Evangelical Church and several independent congregations.
It is also active in human rights advocacy and many humanitarian missions in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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