At least two people were wounded while tension gripped a parish in Kalilangan town in Bukidnon Sunday following an early morning grenade attack there allegedly perpetrated by a youth.
The Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) said revenge may be a possible motive behind the attack on the San Vicente Ferrer Parish.
An article on the CBCP news site quoted Malaybalay Bishop Jose Araneta Cabantan as saying that the wounded were sitting on the last pews near the entrance of the church.
Cabantan said the attack happened past 8 a.m. while the parishioners were praying the “Prayers of the Faithful."
Initial investigation showed a boy appearing to be 12 years old got off a motorcycle and threw two fragmentation grenades at the church. Only one of the grenades exploded near the church’s entrance.
Police safely detonated the grenade that did not explode.
“Policemen who were in the church helped Fr. (Art) Paraiso in calming the parishioners down. They then all went outside the church and Fr. Paraiso proceeded to say the Mass outside," Cabantan said.
He added the attackers were teenagers who were riding in tandem on a motorcycle.
“According to the police, the one who threw the grenades was more or less 12 years old who immediately escaped on board the waiting motorcycle," he said.
The attack on the church was the first in the history of the town, the bishop said.
San Vicente Ferrer parish has more than 20,000 parishioners.
Cabantan urged his flock to remain calm and let law enforcers solve the case and not take justice into their own hands to prevent bloodshed. - KBK
