Christians, Muslims urged: Fix religious, political divides

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - Foreign and local peace activists on Saturday urged participants to an international peace dialogue in Cotabato City to help each other fix the religious and political divides among Muslim and Christian folks to complement the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro (CAB).

The speakers in the two-day international peace conference here, among them priests and officials of various foreign organizations helping in the Mindanao peace process, also appealed for religious tolerance and socio-economic cooperation among Southern communities to hasten the implementation of the CAB.

The CAB, which is the final peace deal between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, aims to establish an MILF-led Bangsamoro political entity by 2015, to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).  

Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, concurrent archbishop of Cotabato, main organizer of the peace conference themed “religious and cultural dialogues for peace and reconciliation in Mindanao,” repeatedly told participants that the GPH-MILF peace pact can only take off with the help of local Muslim, Christian and indigenous lumad communities.

Held at the campus of the Notre Dame University here, the conference, which culminated Saturday, was assisted by the Community of Sant’ Egidio of Italy, and the Mohammadiyah Indonesia, which are both involved in the on-going government-MILF peace overture.

Officials of the two foreign peace advocacy organizations also took turns sharing their experiences in peace processes in different parts of the world.

The MILF’s chief negotiator, Muhaquer Iqbal, one of the guests to the conference, narrated to participants the “ups and downs” of their peace talks with government and how they have surmounted all challenges and hardships before finally striking a peace deal– the CAB- with the Aquino administration after 17 years of negotiations.

Iqbal, his government counterpart, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer, and Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles all sounded optimistic the CAB will usher in lasting peace and development in Moro dominated areas in the South.

Local officials, among them Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu, and North Cotabato First District Rep. Jesus Sacdalan, explained the importance of the cooperation of local government units in helping push the GPH-MILF initiative forward.

Mangudadatu told participants to the conference that while there are divisions among Muslims and non-Muslims in Mindanao, there is no “religious war” between the two groups.

He said one of the major problems that condone rebellion in Mindanao is illiteracy and underdevelopment, and the grinding poverty besetting far-flung communities.

Mangudadatu said it is for these constraints that the Maguindanao provincial government is helping fund the schooling of more than 4,000 poor, but deserving Muslim, Christian and lumad students from the 36 towns in the province.

He said another major security concern LGUs must focus on is the reconciliation of feuding Moro clans to hasten the restoration of normalcy in war-torn areas. He said his administration had amicably settled in the past three years more than 30 bloody clan wars involving influential families in Maguindanao.

Mangudadatu, the only provincial governor, from among five in the ARMM, who has been vocal of his support to the CAB, lauded Quevedo and the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation for embarking on the peace conference to build consensus on how local sectors, the political and religious communities, can help foster peace in Southern Mindanao.

The OMI congregation, where Quevedo belong, has been implementing continuing peace and humanitarian programs in Central Mindanao and in the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi since before World War II.