Another victim in N. Cotabato church bombing dies

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines - A member of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines who was wounded in the October 8 bombing of a UCCP chapel in Pikit town died Tuesday, the third fatality in the gruesome attack.

Public school Virginia Manolid, 63, a resident of Pikit town, succumbed while undergoing medication at a hospital in the provincial capital Kidapawan City.

Manolid’s son, Jaypee, confirmed to reporters his mother’s demise.

Two churchgoers, government public health nurse Felomina Nacario-Ferolin, 54, and Gina Gabilona, 39, also a public school teacher, also perished in the bombing.

Ferolin died while being evacuated to a hospital while Gabilona passed away about five hours after the incident.

Two UCCP church members wounded in the attack, Geremias Dandan and his engineer-son, Gerome, are still confined in a hospital.

The victims were seated close to each other near the spot where the 40-millimeter grenade projectile, fired by gunmen through the open entrance door of the worship site, landed and exploded near them.

A potential witness, who had positively identified one of the bombers, is now in protective custody of the North Cotabato provincial police, ready to help prosecute the culprits.