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July 9, 2009

Philippines church worried bombings could trigger more violence

by Maurice Malanes
Ecumenical News International

MANILA — The Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines says it has sought the help of the military after a spate of bombings in the south of the country, including one on a cathedral, left eight people dead and more than 70 wounded.

Church leaders said they were worried that the attacks, in which some of those killed were church parishioners, could trigger a new wave of retaliatory violence. The leaders said they were especially concerned following reports that some Christians in the affected areas had armed themselves for “self-defense” against possible further attacks.

“Violence can never solve violence,” Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo told the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on July 8 as he called for sober reflection.

Bagaforo had told reporters on July 6 that his diocese would seek the help of the military and parishioners to help secure churches, after a bomb exploded inside the Cotabato cathedral the previous day.

Five parishioners died and 35 others were wounded when the bomb went off while Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo was delivering his Sunday homily. The death toll rose to six, when a one-year-old boy died on July 7.

Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the attack, and said, “While praying for the victims of this ignoble gesture, I raise my voice once again to condemn the use of violence, which is never a decent way to solve problems.”

Three further bombings on July 7 hit Jolo province, Iligan City and Lanao del Norte, which are all on the southern Philippines’ island of Mindanao. Two people died and 36 were wounded in those attacks.

Police and military authorities suspect the attacks are the work of al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiyah, which also operates in Indonesia and Malaysia. Initially, the authorities had also pointed to the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

In a July 6 radio interview, the front’s spokesperson, Eid Kabalu, denied any involvement in the attack of the cathedral, and said his organization had often been a “convenient suspect” for past bombings.

In Manila, the Philippines’ capital, some opposition leaders have speculated that the bombings could have been stage managed as an excuse for a declaration of martial law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The president’s spokesperson strongly denied the charge.