Pistol-wielding man desecrates church in North Cotabato
Local News • 09:15 AM Mon Mar 8, 2021
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By:
John M. Unson
The vandalized religious icon in the Christ the King Church in Kabacan. (From netizen Resty Chavez Manuel)
NORTH COTABATO --- A man thrice shot with a pistol the Christ the King statue in a church in Kabacan town Saturday, just two weeks after vandals destroyed religious icons in two Catholic worship sites in Basilan.
North Cotabato Gov. Nancy Catamco, chairperson of the provincial peace and order council, said Monday she has requested the provincial police and the Kabacan municipal police to cooperate in identifying the culprit for immediate prosecution.
“The local government unit of Kabacan and the municipal police force are also together in trying to identify the perpetrator of this affront, an act of disrespect for a place of worship,” Catamco.
A suspect reportedly entered the Christ the King Church in Kabacan, North Cotabato before dawn Saturday and thrice shot with a .45 caliber pistol the Christ the King statue at one side of the worship site.
Catamco has urged the Catholics in Kabacan to remain sober and give the police enough time to put closure to the incident.
The attack happened only about three weeks after unidentified men destroyed in separate attacks the religious statues inside chapels in two different barangays in Lamitan City in Basilan.
The Lamitan City police remained clueless on who could have desecrated the two chapels, vandalized almost simultaneously by still unidentified men.