Everyone wins with peace in the community of Sant’Egidio and peace in Mindanao

Manila, 27th March 2014 is an historic date. At the Malacañan Palace the Signing of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro took place: a firm step towards peace and full peace after so many years of conflict.What is the link between the Community of Sant’Egidio and peace in Mindanao?

The Community of Sant’Egidio, since its very beginning, has always been first of all committed to building sincere and loyal friendship with the poor, the homeless, the sick, needy people and to work for peace. Starting from this love for the poor, the Community has sought for solutions in different situations of conflict over the years. The links between poverty and conflict are vivid throughout the life of Sant’Egidio.

In the case of Mindanao the Community has had the opportunity to play an active role since 2013, when it was called to be part of the International Contact Group through the appointment of a representative in the Peace Talks between the GPH and the MILF on the new political entity of Bangsamoro.

Today there are many legitimate concerns regarding the implementation of the Peace Agreement. We are firmly convinced today of one key point: true peace will be possible if everyone - ethnic and religious groups, political factions, local administrations, each minority of the whole of Mindanao – if everyone wants and can participate in its democratic and synergic construction. Peace will be authentic if it will be peace for all.

We trust – as Chair Murad said during the Signing Ceremony - that the Bangsamoro Parliament will be composed of Muslim, Christian, indigenous and independent members. This is to emphasize that Bangsamoro is not a Muslim autonomous entity, but consists of different ethnic and religious groups.

We need to move from so many individual searches for nurtured over long years to a single, syntonic and programmatic effort to build together peace in the daily reality.

Even in this situation, as in other negotiations that reached a successful conclusion, the Community of Sant’Egidio, which welcomes today the commitment expressed by the parties, is aware that there is neither a winner nor a loser. Everyone loses with war, everyone wins with peace. And peace is the first form of justice, especially for the poor and the marginalized, for anyone who has suffered.

In recognizing the importance of this historic moment for the Philippines, for the peoples of the North and South, of whom – both – Sant’Egidio is particularly fond for different reasons, the Community remains at the service of this important Process of Reconciliation which today begins a new phase, that of its implementation by including all the different social, religious and civil realities.

The Community of Sant’Egidio commits itself, according to the style and the method of its interventions in reconciliation through dialogue, to continue its work of closeness and support for the implementation of peace in the Philippines, specifically in Mindanao.

For this reason, the Community of Sant’Egidio together with His Eminence Cardinal Orlando Quevedo, Archbishop of Cotabato, and in cooperation with the Muhammadiyah, decided to promote a Conference on Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue for Peace. The event will be held in Cotabato, on 6 and 7 June 2014, under the title “Peace is Living Together - Religions and Cultures in Dialogue on Peace and Reconciliation in Mindanao”.  Significant religious leaders, political representatives, people belonging to the local administrations, as well as personalities coming from the world of education and culture will take part in the meeting.

Representatives of the Philippine Government and the have already assured their presence at the Conference. A number of international political, social and cultural Organizations will also take part in the debate of the meeting.

The experiential heritage of Sant’Egidio in the field of interreligious dialogue, in the “spirit of Assisi”, as a dialogue of life and cultural workshop where religious leaders can effectively influence the behavior of their communities, can make a significant contribution to the implementation of peace.

The Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed on 27th March in Manila restores confidence in the future of the entire Country because, as always, Peace is the Future. May every actor in this process find today the Courage to Hope, in order to engage him or herself in a positive way, to work together for the future of the Philippines and Bangsamoro, because the future is peace and “Peace is Living Together”.