Bomb damages church gate in Basilan

MANILA, Philippines–An improvised explosive device slightly damaged the main gate of St. Peter Parish Church in Barangay (village) Maganda, Lamitan City, Basilan, on Friday night.

No one was hurt in the explosion that occurred around 9:30 p.m.

Lamitan Vice Mayor Roderick Furigay said the explosion occurred some 20 meters from the church, which is located on Quezon Boulevard.

Furigay said bomb experts were trying to determine the type of explosive that caused the blast.

Parish priest Fr. Pascual Benitez, in a post on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) website, said he believed he was the target of the explosion.

“So I was maybe the target because the bomb was placed on the gate, which I used when I went out of the convent,” Benitez said.

Benitez has been the Lamitan parish priest for three years “and it’s the first time that the church is the object of a bomb attack under my term.”

According to the CBCP, there was an attempt to bomb the St. Peter in 2010. Local authorities found and dismantled the explosive device.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack but investigators recovered parts of a cell phone that they believe detonated the device.–With a report from Julie Alipala