UCCP on church bombingand No circumstance or reason can justify

COTABATO CITY – The head of the United Church of Christ in
the Philippines (UCCP) today condemned in the strongest term the bloody grenade
attack on one of its local churches in Pikit, North Cotabato Wednesday night.

No circumstance or reason can justify such deplorable act on
a house of worship leading to the death and injury of worshipers,” said Bishop
Reuel Norman O. Marigza, UCCP secretary general.

At the same time, Bishop Marigza urged authorities for speedy
act to probe the incident.

We urge the authorities to act speedily in thoroughly
investigating the incident to uncover the perpetrators and their motives for
this dastardly act,” he said in a statement posted on its website Thursday.

Bishop Marigza also appealed to all UCCP Church members to
remain sober and calm.

We ask our members to remain sober-minded yet vigilant. Even
as we press for justice, let us not do anything that will further escalate the
violence,” he said.

According to reports gathered by UCCP so far, Bishop Marigza
said, two men riding tandem on a motorcycle fired an M-203 grenade inside the
UCCP Pikit in Pikit, North Cotabato while the midweek service was going on.

Two died in the bombing (Felomena Nacario-Ferolin and Gina Cabiluna), another
one is critical (Virginia Manolid) and a number of church members wounded,
among them Jeremias and Jerome Dandan.