ARMM execs urged: Focus on inter-faith dialogues

COTABATO CITY — British Ambassador Paul Dimond has one unsolicited advice to leaders of the culturally pluralistic Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao — continue focusing on inter-faith dialogues to catalyze harmony among the region’s socially and politically fragmented communities.

Dimond, who met regional officials led by ARMM Gov. Parouk Hussin here Thursday, said it is only through inter-faith dialogues that different sectors can understand fully the intricacies of each other’s cultural and religious practices.

"It is through inter-faith dialogues that we can develop strong bonds," Dimond told ARMM officials during a brief consultation on the region’s socio-economic concerns at Hussin’s office here.

The British government is funding the ARMM’s Sallam (peace) bridge projects in impoverished communities.

Using technology and funds from the United Kingdom, the ARMM government, in the last two years, has built dozens of Sallam bridges, some of them now connecting former rebel enclaves, now peace zones, to key trading areas in Southern Mindanao.

Hussin, who belongs to the Moro National Liberation Front, said his office, aware of the importance of inter-faith convergence among the region’s culturally diverse people, is keen on implementing more infrastructure projects that will boost economic growth in neighboring Muslim and Christian communities.

"(This way) no one would complain that preference is given to one group while the other is neglected. This causes undue friction. We don’t want this to happen in the ARMM," he said.

Hussin’s office inaugurated last month in Wao, Lanao del Sur a "convergence project," composed of a network of farm-to-market roads, a bridge, a halal slaughterhouse and a health center, for the town’s Muslim and Christian residents.

Wao, a hinterland municipality whose people rely mainly on farming, showcases how Muslim and Christian leaders, since the 1960s, have been helping each other in maintaining peace and order through inter-faith dialogues.

Officials of the ARMM’s Department of the Interior and Local Government said it was for the peace initiatives of Wao’s traditional and religious leaders that the town was not affected by the hostilities between government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front forces that rocked many parts of Central Mindanao two years ago.

Dimond also called on the media to report the tangible socio-economic accomplishments of the government and non-government organizations in the south.