JDV to international forum: Fight poverty, not just terrorism

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. told an international forum over the weekend that any campaign against terrorism must be supported by a "political and an economic initiative" to combat poverty and injustice.

Citing the case of Basilan province in southern Philippines where the Armed Forces is battling the Abu Sayyaf group of bandits and other Muslim extremists, De Venecia said the government has mounted a "parallel anti-poverty drive to lift Muslim communities from decades of poverty and injustice that have bred terrorists."

"Destroying this terrorists but not poverty and injustice will only turn Muslim Mindanao into a bigger cauldron of Muslim outrage and a more menacing threat to democracy," he said.

He stressed that the bigger fight is "outside the war zone beyond military weapons and arms."

De Venecia also urged Christians Democrats of Europe to push for a Christian-Muslim dialogue that he said has gained urgency following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States.

The Speaker, who is vice president of the Christian Democrats International, said harmonizing the different religions "is possible with patience, humility and forgiveness."

"Our goal should have a hundred years of peace so that we can wipe out mass poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America and in the back streets of the developed nations," he said.

The forum that De Venecia attended was held in the premises of the Italian National Assembly. It was sponsored by the De Gasperi Foundation which shouldered the travel and hotel expenses of the participants.

It was the eight or ninth trip abroad of De Venecia since July last year, when the 12th Congress convened. He has said the House paid for only one out of those trips.

Among the participants in the three-day Rome forum were Pier Fernando Casini, president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies; Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation of Bishops; Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, former Italian president; Eddie Fenech Adami, prime minister of Malta;

Guido Pondesta, vice president of the European Parliament; Italian Sen. Giulio Andreotti, who is also a former prime minister of his country; Emilio Colombo, former president of the European Parliament; Jan Carnogursky, justice minister of Slovakia; Tomas Halik, president of the Czech Christian Academy; and Hanna Suchocka, former prime minister of Poland.

De Venecia, along with other forum participants, was received in a private audience by Pope John Paul II after the conference. He is expected to be back today. – Jess Diaz