Doctor rejects theory gov't nurse was target in Pikit Church blast

KIDAPAWAN CITY – A ranking
health official in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) today dismissed reports that public nurse Felomina Ferolin, who died in grenade
attack on a Church in Pikit, North Cotabato, was the target of attackers.

Dr. Kadil Sinolinding Jr, ARMM
regional secretary of health, said he personally knew Ferolin and that she has
no known enemies, recent or in the past.

Earlier, Supt. Danilo
Peralta, North Cotabato police said investigation on the October 8 bombing of
United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP), was triggered by personal
grudge against Ferolin.

Ferolin was Sinolinding’s
trusted nurse when he was still the chief of Pagalungan hospital.

Ferolin and Gina Gabilona, a
teacher, both died when two men fired a rifle grenade toward the UCCP Church
while they, along with a dozen others, were holding mid-week prayer meeting.
Three others were hurt in the 7:40 p.m. blast.

Police said parents and relatives
of a child in Pagalungan who were given vaccination by Ferolin were allegedly enraged
after the kid’s health developed complications.

Our investigators was
looking that angle closely, among others,that could have triggered the attack,” Peralta
said.

But Sinolinding stressed
Ferolin and the child’s family are close friends and they have a very good
relationship.

I personally know nurse
Ferolin, she has no known enemy, she is close to the child’s parents and that
there was no truth to the reported complications,” he said, adding that it was
only coincidence the child has develop illness but not fatal.

He urged the police to dig
deeper and refrain from issuing statements that could complicate furtherthe situation
in Pikit.

Sinolinding said she worked with
Ferolin in the past 10 years and that she was a good nurse and well-loved by
the people of Pagalungan.

He even challenged the police
to see for themselves how the people loved Ferolin by visiting the place and
asking the populace.