Int'l peace, justice advocacy group sets up Phl chapter

COTABATO CITY, Philippines - The country now boasts of its chapter under the international peace and justice advocacy group Vivat International, which has “special consultative status” in the United Nations.

The Vivat International is a non-government organization, comprised of religious congregations around the world, which is active in various programs promoting social justice, ethical values, peace and development, protection of the ecology and human rights.

Fr. Eduardo Vasquez, assistant program coordinator for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation, told reporters Thursday that 44 members of different religious organizations established the Vivat International-Philippines after a workshop from Nov. 26-30 at the Saint Arnold Janssen Spirituality Center in Quezon City.

The OMI, which is actively engaged in a media ministry espousing Muslim and Christian solidarity,  and has dozens of missionary projects in Southern Philippines, was represented in the four-day workshop by Vasquez and a colleague, Fr. Romeo Villanueva.

Vasquez said the newly established Vivat group in the Philippines aims to advocate for justice, peace in the respective missions areas of its member congregations,

The latin word vivat means “to live,’ or, in context, can also be interpreted as “to sustain life.”

Vasquez said the expansion of the Vivat Internationale to the Philippines complements the human rights protection thrusts of its member-congregations in the country.

The newly established Philippine Vivat chapter, in its first official statement, said it has identified immediate social issues that it will focus its attention on, among them the generation of support for the newly crafted Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front crafted last Oct. 15.

The group acknowledges the importance of the deal as a product of many years of negotiations between the national government and the MILF.

 The group said it will also concentrate on graft and corruption, the adverse effects of mining, and the need for electoral and political reforms in the Philippines.

“Inspired by the inputs and motivated by the vision and mission of Vivat International, we renew our commitment to uphold human rights by working towards the eradication of poverty; restoring the rights of indigenous peoples; preserving creation; promoting sustainable development; and working for structural and political change,” members of the newly organized Vivat chapter said in their maiden official statement.

The Vivat International was given “consultative status” in the UN’s Economic and Social Council under Article 71of the Charter of the United Nations and through ECOSOC Resolution 1996/31.

Vasquez said the fusion of more than 40 representatives from different congregations as one peace and justice advocacy body under the Vivat International-Philippines is a big boost to the Mindanao peace process.

The congregation where Vasquez belongs, the OMI, whose pontifical headquarters is in Vatican, has actively been supporting the government’s peace overtures with the Moro communities in Southern Philipines. 

Many OMI priests are involved in humanitarian projects in Central Mindanao and the island provinces of Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Four OMI missionaries, among them Bishop Benjamin De Jesus, vicar of Jolo and Tawi-Tawi, have been killed in one incident after another in different areas in Mindanao since 1973, but the killings never dampened the enthusiasms of Oblate priests to serve Mindanao’s poor and needy Muslim and Christian sectors.