DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 25 December) — President Rodrigo Duterte flew to Midsayap, North Cotabato on Christmas Day to comfort those who were injured during the grenade blast outside a Catholic church on Christmas Eve.
Duterte proceeded to the Anecito T. Pesante Sr. Memorial Hospital where three of the injured were admitted. A total of 18 persons were injured, according to the Presidential News Desk. Three of them were admitted at the Pesante hospital, two in Cotabato Regional Medical Center in Cotabato City, one in Southern Philippines Medical Center in Davao City while 12 were treated as outpatients.
Duterte handed over financial assistance to them and vowed payment for the hospital and outpatient expenses.
In a statement, Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Archbishop of Cotabato, said he hopes the “heartless perpetrators be quickly identified and brought to justice.”
“As chief shepherd of the flock, my heart reaches out with love and compassion to our parishioners wounded in the bombing outside the Church and Shrine of Señor Sto Niño, Midsayap, before the Holy Mass of Christmas ended. What was a sacred celebration of joy and thanksgiving ended in tragedy and sorrow. I condemn this violent terroristic act against the innocent as a crime that cries out to heaven, a crime that every religion of love and peace must condemn,” Quevedo said.
“May the victims and their families find strength and comfort in the Christ Child and in the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother as well as ours,” he said. (MindaNews)
