Local church in Jolo reacts after 4th bombing in 7 months

A Catholic church official in Jolo, Sulu encouraged the province's Christian minority to continue living their faith without fear in the wake of the fourth grenade blast to rock the Jolo cathedral in less than a year. “Whether in your office, in the market place, inside the city hall, wherever you are, you must live your Christian faith as we cannot act as if we are afraid," said Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon in an interview on Church-run dxMM radio. A grenade exploded at the church wall of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in the city at 5:40 a.m. last Sunday, 20 minutes before the first Mass. It was the cathedral’s fourth explosion in seven months. No one has so far claimed responsibility for the blast, but past explosions in the cathedral were blamed on the Abu Sayyaf group. On New Year’s Eve, a grenade also exploded in front of the cathedral, wounding one government soldier. This came after an October 27 grenade blast at the back of the same cathedral, damaging several windows. Also in June last year, six people were killed after suspected Abu Sayyaf militants detonated a homemade bomb in front of the church. “How can it be random if it was thrown inside the church compound near pastoral offices?" Lampon said, but admitted he had no idea who was behind the attack and why it happened. For his part, Oblate Father Jose Ante said he saw a man throw a grenade into the church grounds. “The grenade exploded near the tombs of (two) bishops," he said. There were no people around at that time but a couple of windows were destroyed. God is still protecting us," he said. Senior Superintendent Bienvenido Latag, acting Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police chief, said it is too early to say if the incident was related to the coming May elections. The Commission on Elections (Comelec)’s gun ban for the election period went into effect Sunday. Defense Secretary Nortberto Gonzales Jr. ordered the military to study the implications of last Sunday's incident, radio dzBB reported on Wednesday. AFP spokesman Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner Jr. could not be contacted immediately for details. Sulu province, which is predominantly Muslim, was the subject of a military operation on September 20 last year against suspected Abu Sayyaf militants believed to be holding camp in Indanan town. The Union of Catholic Asian (UCA) News reported in its website that Muslim leaders and peace advocates criticized the timing of the military operations, disrupting prayers in mosques during the observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. "Since the military operations ... there has been talk of people preparing for repercussions, but we don't know if this is retaliation or what," lay pastoral worker Carmen Gobaton was quoted as saying in the UCA News report. Gonzales also noted the bombing came shortly after attacks on other churches abroad, including the fire-bombing of a church in Malaysia last week. In Malaysia, the Metro Tabernacle Church's ground floor was gutted in a fire-bomb attack, and the Life Chapel's porch suffered minor damage from a "Molotov cocktail" (improvised gasoline-fueled firebomb). Homemade explosives were also thrown into the compound of the Assumption Catholic Church but did not go off. The St. Francis Xavier Catholic church reported threats of an attack. – NC/JV, GMANews.TV