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BISHOP
Jose Maguiran of Dipolog issued a clarification on
Wednesday regarding the five (not six as reported)
priests reported to have been held hostage by rogue
elements of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) on
Monday.
The priests were indeed among those
whose bus was stopped by armed men early Monday morning
as they approached the town proper of Kolambogan, Lanao
del Norte. However, amid hundreds of civilians who were
forced to get off their buses, the priests ran on
hearing shots and were given shelter by local Muslim
civilians.
According to the statement of Bishop
Maguiran, on the early morning of August 18, four of his
clergymen and one seminarian were riding Rural Transit
Bus No. 171 bound for Cagayan de Oro City to attend a
homecoming of St. Francis Xavier Regional Seminary.
At around 4:30 a.m., their bus was
stopped by armed men as they neared the poblacion of
Kolambogan. “They were asked to get out of the bus, and
once outside, they saw more armed men moving to and fro,
firing their guns indiscriminately. My clergymen
panicked and ran to different directions to take cover,”
Maguiran said.
Muslim civilians in the community of
“Kolambogan invited them and an estimated 100 other
passengers to take refuge in a mosque nearby. They were
given food and water by the community and were protected
from the armed men,” said the bishop.
Although the armed men wanted to enter
the mosque, the Muslim civilians refused them entry,
according to reports reaching the bishop, so the
passengers, including five religious, stayed in the
mosque until 11 a.m.
When it looked safe enough to leave,
they went out and rode a motorized bangka bound for
Ozamis.
“I would like to thank our Muslim
brothers and sisters in that community for helping and
providing security measures to the passengers, my
clergymen and my seminarian. As a religious leader, I am
and will always be for peace to reign in Mindanao,”
Maguiran said. --S. Fabunan |
