IN MEMORIAM | Archbishop Emeritus Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro and Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Prelature of St. Mary in Marawi City join a crowd in lighting candles in front of Mohammad Ali B. Dimaporo Gymnasium at Mindanao State University on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, to remember the four persons who died in the Dec. 3 bombing inside the gym. (Photo RICHEL V. UMEL / Inquirer Mindanao)
MARAWI CITY, Lanao del Sur, Philippines — A somber mood prevailed over Mindanao State University (MSU) in this city on Monday, as some students were still anxious and apprehensive as classes resumed in the state university, a week after the Dec. 3 explosion that ripped through its Mohammad Ali B. Dimaporo Gymnasium during a Sunday Mass, killing four persons and hurting 50 others.
Shortly after the flag-raising ceremony, Archbishop Emeritus Antonio Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro and Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Prelature of St. Mary here led the prayer and brief candle-lighting ceremony at the facade and entrance of the gym to pray for the four persons who died, before classes officially resumed after having been suspended in the aftermath of the bombing.
The four fatalities — Janine Arenas, 18; Riza Daniel, 49; Evangeline S. Aromin, 31; Junrey T. Barbante, 26 — were honored by Catholic church workers through a tarpaulin bearing their photos that was mounted at the entrance of the gym, with a call for everyone to say a “prayer of remembrance” in honor of the victims and to be “united in hope and prayer for healing and peace.”
Of the some 1,000 students who went home to their respective provinces following the bombing, only 500 were able to return for the resumption of classes, said Rashid Paca, MSU executive vice president.
But in Zamboanga del Sur, most of the estimated 250 students that the province fetched from MSU last week have decided to go back for the resumption of classes, said Jesreel Himang, provincial information officer.
Week of peace
Along with the resumption of classes, MSU also opened its Mindanao Week of Peace celebration, which was delayed because of the explosion.
Ledesma said the continued longing for home of the people of Marawi who were displaced by the 2017 siege of the city remained at the heart of the Mindanao Week of Peace celebration.
“Coming home for many Muslim families would be the first meaning of our theme for our week of peace; it would be returning to their birthplace,” he said, adding that many of those displaced by the 2017 siege continued to live in transitory shelters or in the homes of relatives.
Ledesma said another concept of coming home would be the “sense of return to basic love and just relations” that continued to challenge people in the entire island of Mindanao. “(This includes) respect for human dignity and appreciation of various cultures and religious traditions representing our solidarity as we strive to forge lasting peace,” he said.
Book of new martyrs
De la Peña said MSU would begin holding a Mass in a chapel on the campus’ 5th street since Masses inside the gymnasium had been suspended for the time being.
He also thanked the tricycle drivers plying the routes between the university and the city proper who immediately organized themselves and helped bring the wounded to the MSU infirmary and Amai Pakpak Medical Center in the city’s downtown area during the time of the explosion.
PRAYER OF REMEMBRANCE | A tarpaulin bearing the images of the four persons who died in the Dec. 3 bombing inside the gymnasium of Mindanao State University is mounted outside the gym to honor their memory, as classes resume in the university on Dec. 11, 2023 (Photo by RICHEL V. UMEL / Inquirer Mindanao)
“The bomb will not stop us from working to serve our Catholic constituents,” he said as he announced that Luis Antonio Gokim Cardinal Tagle, formerly the Archbishop of Manila and now heads the Vatican’s Pro-Prefect for the Section of Evangelization of Dicastery for Evangelization, had been working to include the names of the four who died in the “Book of New Martyrs” of the Catholic Church.
This developed as the provincial police filed murder complaints against the identified suspects, brothers Khadafi and Arsani Membisa, at the Marawi City Prosecutors’ Office.
Lanao del Sur police director Col. Robert Daculan, who headed the special investigation task group for the MSU bombing, earlier named the two among the suspects behind the explosion.
Khadafi, known as “engineer,” was a student of MSU from 1993 to 1998, pursuing a degree in Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Engineering. He returned in 2007 and re-enrolled in the course but did not finish it, according to lawyer Shidik T. Abantas, MSU spokesperson.
Brig. Gen. Allan Nobleza, director of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao police, said the two suspects were found to have camped inside a safehouse they built in Barangay Sikap, which was within the grounds of MSU.