MARAWI CITY (MindaNews / 04 December) — Shania Baldecasa, 23, a third year Natural Science Student, was about to enter the Dimaporo Gymnasium early morning to hear mass on the first Sunday of Advent, when she heard a loud explosion from inside.
Pandemonium ensued as students and teachers rushed out of the gym. “A friend dragged me back to our dormitory,” said Baldecasa, who hails from Calamba in Misamis Occidental.
Three persons died inside the gym while the fourth died in the hospital. Forty-two others were also rushed to the Amai Pakpak Medical Center here. In a statement, the MSU suspended classes and all academic activities “until further notice.”
Baldecasa decided to go home, joining friends in a vehicle bound for Iligan.
Paul Reancho, a third year BS International Relations student, said most of the students received calls from their parents ordering them to leave school and go home.
“I agreed because I am scared too,” Reancho said as he lugged his bag on a vehicle that would take him and the others to nearby Iligan City.
Hundreds of MSU students arrived at the Anahaw Amphitheater in Iligan City where vehicles from Cagayan de Oro in Misamis Oriental, Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur and Wao in Lanao del Sur were waiting to fetch them.
Police said the bomb, believed to be fashioned from a 60 mm mortar shell went off a few minutes after the mass started on the first Sunday of Advent at the Dimaporo Gymnasium. It was also the fourth day of the annual Mindanao Week of Peace.
President Ferdinand Marcos blamed “ foreign terrorists” for the bombing and instructed the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) to ensure the safety of the students and civilians.
PNP Chief Benjamin Acorda Jr., who flew in from Manila Sunday afternoon said he would deploy more policemen from Region 10 or Northern Mindanao to ensure the safety of some 15,000 students in the campus.
“We want to assure the students that they are safe with us guarding the campus,” Acorda said in a press conference.
Nick Jabagat, Cagayan de Oro Disaster Risk Reduction Management Officer Nick said they brought two buses to fetch 150 MSU students who hail from Cagayan de Oro.
Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong said they are providing buses and vehicles for the students who want to go home.
“After this incident, we cannot blame the parents for wanting their children to go back home,” Adiong said.
Dr. Rashid Paca, Executive Vice President of the MSU System, however, said the two-week final exam period is supposed to start on Monday.
“We’re hoping the students stay because the final examinations, which will last two weeks, will start tomorrow. Sayang eh,” he said.
After the final exams, the university will have its semestral break along with the Christmas break.
He said students are safer inside the campus but there are rumor mongers who picture the situation as dangerous.
“So the parents got worried, and requested their children to just go home, because your life is better than education,” he said.
A parent who does not know the situation on the ground will tell his child to go home, he said. “So if the students will agree that they are safe, kais safe naman kasi talaga, we will advise them not to go home anymore.” (Froilan Gallardo / MindaNews with a report from Bobby Timonera)