Gov't troops help secure priests, nuns in Sulu

COTABATO CITY - His eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo said government forces help securepriests, nuns and lay leaders in Jolo, Sulu against possible harassment and kidnapping by extremist Abu Sayyaf Group.Cardinal Quevedo was quoted by Zamboanga City-based journalists as saying the measures was a welcome development amid threats posed by the Abu Sayyaf.Describing it as precautionary measures, Cardinal Quevedo said it was aimed at preventing attacks on, including kidnapping, religious workers and lay people in Sulu.He said the movement ofreligious in Sulu are closely monitored by the military.Eight Oblate missionary priests, including Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon, OMI, DD and nuns served various communities and schoolsin Sulu despite threats of kidnapping and other crimes.Sulu is one of the most difficultmissions the Oblates of Mary Immaculate dared amid threats from extremists.The Jolo Cathedral managed by the OMIs have been subjected to grenade attacks seven times in the past 20 years.There wereOblate martyrs in Sulu the past two decades whose murders remained unsolved.Fr. Benjamin Inocencio, OMI was shot by still unidentified gunmen on December 28, 1990 at the back of Jolo Cathedral.On Feb. 4, 1997, Jolo Bishop Ben de Jesus, OMI was shot dead by two gunmen believed to be extremists. Also in 1997, Fr. Clarence Bertelsman, OMI was kidnapped.American missionary Charles Watson was also kidnapped in 1993. In the same year, kidnappers seized three Spanish nuns, also in Jolo.Fr. Jesus Reynaldo Roda, OMI was also killed on January 15, 2009 in the island town of Tabawan.Fr. Eliseo Mercado, OMI said Fr. Rey Roda was praying in the chapel when the armed men arrived in his house. Some of the students were working at the computers since they put the generators only in the evening. They looked for him and they wanted to kidnap him. He refused to go with them. So they ‘manhandled’ him and they brutally killed him in the evening of the 15th of January 2009 in the Island of Tabawan, Mercado said in his article The Three Martyrs of the Vicariate of Jolo.