Mass held at reclaimed Marawi City Catholic worship site

LANAO DEL SUR --- Muslim military and police personnel guarded on Sunday their Catholic companions while attending mass in a church that militants occupied when they laid siege to Marawi City on May 23.Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez, Jr. of the Western Mindanao Command said Monday that Captain Alfredo Era, Jr. led the Sunday mass at the St. Mary’s Cathedral, the first since the May 23 outbreak of hostilities in Marawi City.Era, a soldier-priest, is the assistant division chaplain of the Army’s 1stInfantry Division.Maute terrorists vandalized the worship site on May 23 and abducted there Marawi’s parish priest, Teresito Chito Suganob, and 11 worshipers they used as shields to prevent pursuing government forces from getting close.The walls and the roof of the cathedral were dotted with bullet holes as a result of the encounters in its immediate surroundings between soldiers and combined Maute gunmen and Abu Sayyaf bandits. We are thankful to the Muslim state security people who secured the cathedral tightly while their Catholic companions were inside to hear mass, Galvez said.Among those who provided security to the worshipers were Muslim members of units under the Police Regional Office-Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.The newly-installed chief of the Marawi city police, Superintendent Ebra Moxir, is an Islamic theologian.He was designated the position for him to lead religious activities meant to counter the violent religious extremism that is being spread by the Maute terror group among local Maranao communities.Assemblyman Zia Alonto Adiong of the ARMM’s 24-seat Regional Assembly said on Monday that the successful clearing of areas in Marawi City that Maute terrorists occupied were achieved through the joint efforts of combined Army and police units with mixed Muslim and Christian personnel. That alone will show that there is no Muslim-Christian conflict here. This is something between peace-loving Muslims and Christians against a group of misguided militants, said Adiong, spokesman of the Lanao del Sur provincial crisis management committee.The committee is helping authorities restore normalcy in Marawi City, capital of Lanao del Sur province.