Church Seeks Military Protection in Phillipines

Philippines church worried bombings could trigger more violence

By Maurice Malanes
Manila, 8 July (ENI)--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-defence" against possible further attacks.

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

Bagaforo had told reporters on 6 July 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 7 July. [Reprinted with permission]

The "violence can never solve violence" line is a good one, aside from not being true: why do we arm policemen and call on the military for protection? "Non-violent crime prevention" is the daydream of utopians.