Catholics in southern Philippines close schools after attack warning

Published: 2006-10-19

ISABELA CITY, Philippines (CNS) -- All Claretian schools in the Basilan province were closed after Muslim parents warned a group of Catholic nuns and teachers of a possible attack from Abu Sayyaf guerrilla recruits. Daughters of Charity Sister Felipa Javen, a teacher at Claret High School in Basilan's Maluso town, said her school and all other Claretian schools in the province were "closed indefinitely" Oct. 16. The nun spoke with UCA News, an Asian church news agency based in Thailand, in an Oct. 17 phone interview from her convent in Maluso, more than 550 miles southeast of Manila. Muslim parents warned her and three other nuns at a school meeting Oct. 15 that the Abu Sayyaf separatist group had targeted Claret High School and its faculty for an attack. They advised the nuns and teachers to cancel classes and the nuns not to leave their convent. Sister Teresa Mueda, the congregation's superior in Manila, told UCA News that about half of the school's students are Muslim. She said the nuns have always had good relations with Muslims in the area.

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