CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews / 03 December) – Four of 46 persons rushed to the Amai Pakpak Medical Center in Marawi City are confirmed to have died from injuries in an explosion during an early Sunday morning Catholic mass inside the Dimaporo Gymnasium at the Mindanao State University’s main campus.
For Christians, December 3 is the first Sunday of Advent. It is also the fourth day of the Mindanao Week of Peace, an inter-religious annual event.
Authorities are still investigating the incident It is not clear yet as of 10 a.m. if the blast was caused by a grenade or a homemade bomb. Jennie Tamano Alonto, provincial information chief, told MindaNews that the report from Col. Billy dela Rosa of the 103rd Infantry Brigade as of 10 a.m. is that the death toll has risen to four, with 42 injured.
Earlier at 8 a.m., Dr. Pinky Sani, APMC Chief of Hospital, said of the 46 rushed to the emergency room, one died while 45 others were undergoing treatment, six of them for surgery in the operating rooms.
(UPDATE as of 12:30 noon: of the four killed, three died inside the gymnasium while the fourth was pronounced dead at the hospital)
This is the first major terror attack in Marawi City after the 2017 siege that left a major part of the city in ruins, displaced thousands of residents and left 165 soldiers and 47 civilians and nearly a thousand members of the IS-inspired groups dead.
“We will give you updates after securing the area,” Marawi Mayor Majul Gandmara told MindaNews in a text message. He said investigation is still ongoing.
“Right now, our city police, Task Force Marawi and the MSU System security forces are in coordination, conducting thorough investigation of the incident,” Gandamra said.
MindaNews sought Bishop Edwin dela Pena of the Prelature of Marawi but he could not be reached as of 10 a.m. Catholics are a minority in the Muslim-dominated city where the roots of inter-faith dialogue were sown and nurtured by its first Bishop, Bienvenido Tudtud back in the early 1970s, eventually spreading across Mindanao, the rest of the country and Asia.
Marawi’s parish priest, Fr. Teresito “Chito” Soganub, was among those held hostage by the Maute Group on May 23, 2017, the first day of the siege. He managed to escape after 117 days. He died in his sleep in his hometown in Norala, South Cotabato on July 22, 2020.
Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Adiong Jr. condemned the “violent bombing incident.”
“Here in my province, we uphold basic human rights, and that includes the right to religion. Terroristic attacks on educational institutions must also be condemned because these are places that promote the culture of peace and mold our youth to be the future shapers of this country,” the governor said.
He urged the security sector “to get to the bottom of this immediately.”
“To the families of those whose lives were lost in this senseless act of violence and terrorism, please accept our deepest condolences and sympathies. We will make sure justice will be served,” he said. (Froilan Gallardo and Carolyn O. Arguillas / MindaNews)
