Cabinet, bishops, opposition meet

Catholic bishops and representatives from labor, civil society, the opposition and administration officials locked themselves up for two days over the weekend in what could be their first attempt to build a consensus for national unity.

Sources said other representatives from the private sector and stakeholders joined the "retreat," held at the Ramon Magsaysay Center on Roxas Boulevard in Malate, Manila, to engage in a dialogue moderated by Adam Kahane, a renowned author and consultant on difficult negotiations and consensus-building.

The retreat was organized by former agrarian reform secretary Ernesto Garilao and some members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), who invited Kahane to act as moderator of the closed-door meeting.

"The representatives were told to leave all their cell phones outside the door and they were locked up from Sunday to 8 p.m. Monday," the source said.

"They were asked to be very frank and talk about their bad experiences with their opponents."

Long sought by Garilao, who is now working with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), the retreat finally pushed through last weekend on the availability of Kahane.

The world famous consultant has a reputation for consensus building among corporate leaders.

He had moderated dialogues with politicians and insurgents, civil servants and community activists, trade unionists and the clergy in strife-torn countries to help them work together for their futures.

It was gathered that among those who went to the retreat were Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, CBCP president Angel Lagdameo, Cagayan de Oro Bishop Antonio Ledesma, and senior Muslim ulamas Taha Basman and Michael Ibrahim.

Bishop Ephraim Tendero, head of the evangelical churches of the Philippines, was invited but did not attend.

Also present in the meeting were former peace process adviser Teresita "Ging" Deles, former education secretary Florencio Abad, Rafa Lopa, Aurora Tolentino of CODE-NGO, former senator Wigberto Tañada, Bulacan Gov. Josefina de la Cruz, Prof. Jose Abueva, former ambassador Howard Dee, Vicente Fabe of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (Courage), Anak Pawis partylist Rep. Rafael Mariano, national artist Bienvenido Lumbera, and Charter change advocate Rita Linda Jimeno.

Others who attended the meeting were Washington Sycip, founder of Asia’s largest auditing firm; Sen. Manuel Roxas, former finance secretary Jose Pardo, Ramon Magsaysay Awardee Eugenia Apostol, and representatives from indigenous peoples’ groups.

Malacañang was represented by Presidential Management Staff head Arthur Yap, Presidential Adviser for the Peace Process Jesus Dureza, Secretary to the Cabinet Ricardo Saludo, and Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes.

"They are just the initial group because they are perceived to be open-minded and more retreats such as these can be expected in the future to enable the dialogues to move forward," the source said.

One of the Palace officials who attended the two-day retreat said the meeting was an attempt to forge national unity with the help of religious leaders.

He said future meetings will depend on the results of the work on the five key issues that they agreed to work on, including questions over the legitimacy of President Arroyo’s leadership.

The five areas for consensus included the sector of education, funding for infrastructure and social projects, peace and social justice, livelihood, and governance, reforms and "legitimacy issues," the source said.

A former government official present during the meeting said the dialogues alternated from "intense" to "very friendly."

Those representing the opposition, the source said, insisted the legitimacy of the Arroyo administration should be included in the five areas of consensus.

The Palace official said Mrs. Arroyo welcomed the outcome of the retreat.

The President extended anew the hand of reconciliation to her detractors in her State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 24.

In the past, she proposed forming a government of national unity when destabilization efforts against her mounted.