Davao archdiocese bans bags, boxes inside churches, to allow only ‘small purses’
Credit to Author: CATHERINE A. MODESTO| Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2019 04:48:11 +0000
THE Archdiocese of Davao is prohibiting churchgoers from carrying bags and boxes inside its churches and chapels as part of security measures effective immediately following the twin blasts that killed 21 people at a cathedral in Jolo, Sulu on January 27.
In a circular, Davao Archbishop Romulo Valles said bags, backpacks, knapsacks, boxes, cartons into churches, “due to the current peace and order situation vis-a-vis threat of
violence.”
“Only small purses and the like are allowed,” he said.
Valles said that the measure was “upon the advice of the government’s security and PNP (Philippine National Police) personnel,” said Valles, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
The Islamic State (IS) owned up to the blasts at the Our Lady of
Mount Carmel Cathedral where 97 others were injured during a morning mass.
The explosions occurred despite martial law in Mindanao, which
President Rodrigo Duterte declared in May 2017 to quell a rebellion by
the IS-inspired Maute group that laid siege to Marawi City in a bid to
establish an independent state.
Government troops defeated the terrorists in October of the same year but Duterte asked Congress to extend martial law to keep the peace in the restive region. Lawmakers approved not one but three requests for an extension.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday began the oral arguments on the third extension as a response to the petitions filed by opposition legislators and indigenous peoples from the southern Philippines, seeking to nullify Congress’ decision to approve the request of Duterte to extend military control in the region until December 31, 2019.
Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and Marvic Leonen
questioned the inconsistencies in the justification for a martial law extension as listed by the government in its memoranda.
Leonen told Solicitor General Jose Calida that “sufficiency of factual
basis must require some level of credibility and consistencies,” to
which Calida agreed.
Caguioa, before wrapping up the oral arguments, appealed to
government officials to be “lucid and strong” in their arguments in
their reports, which would be submitted to the magistrates on or
before Thursday.
The post Davao archdiocese bans bags, boxes inside churches, to allow only ‘small purses’ appeared first on The Manila Times Online.