ZAMBOANGA CITY –Religious leaders, who attended the annual peace gathering in Rome, have vowed to advance the spread of peace education in all learning institutions to reach a common understanding and to help address violent extremism in Mindanao.
In a statement sent Wednesday to the Philippine News Agency, Muslim scholars and Catholic bishops called for “peace” amid the ongoing fighting in Marawi City.
“Our hearts cry for peace. We felt the sufferings of the displaced people of Marawi and the whole region, particularly the ongoing ordeal of innocent hostages inside the city. We experienced helplessness as well as righteous indignation while the weapons of destruction daily increase the death toll of combatants and civilians,” the group said in a joint statement they signed on September 15 in Rome.
The signatories of the statement include Msgr. Anthony Ledesma, archbishop of Cagayan de Oro City; Msgr. Edwin de la Peña, bishop of Marawi City; Dr. Said Zamahsari Salendad, Hayatul Ulama secretary-general; and, Ustadz Abdulmuhmin Mujahid, regional Darul Ifta executive director in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).
The Sant’Egidio community sponsored the peace gathering, which is anchored on the theme “Paths for Peace.”
The Community of Sant’Egidio, founded in Rome in 1968, is a Christian community that is officially recognized by the Catholic Church as a “Church public lay association.” It claims 50,000 members in more than 70 countries.
Cardinal Orlando Quevedo and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Chair Al Hajj Ebrahim Murad also attended the peace gathering.
The group said the conflict in Marawi City, which is running for almost four months now, "dramatize three interconnected challenges to peace in Mindanao - violent extremism and terrorism; the uncertainties of the political peace process; the crucial role of religious leaders and communities in the re-building and development of Marawi.”
The signatories clarified that the crisis in Marawi is not about “religious war,” saying it is “a war against terrorism and violent extremism.”
They said that the proof are the “many stories of mutual assistance between Muslims and Christians that attest to the rejection of this evil. These stories of solidarity likewise witness the Filipinos’ sense of sharing a common humanity with anyone in need, regardless of creed or community.”
The group went on to call for the “inclusion of peace education at levels in our school, madaris (Islamic schools), and communities.” “We need to build a culture of peace based on personal integrity, respect for human rights, and inter-cultural dialogue, care for environment, peaceful coexistence and eradication of poverty. Islam and Christianity are religions of peace. We recall the words of Andrea Riccardi, founder of Sant’Egidio, that ‘war is the mother of all poverty.’”
The group vowed to work with the youth, saying as the “future leader…they have so much to contribute towards building our communities with renewed vision of Mindanao as our shared homeland.”
The signatories have called on Philippine legislators to “prioritize and expedite the passage of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).”
The enactment of the BBL is part of the implementation of the historic peace agreement signed by the government and the MILF in March 2014 - ending the decades-long armed conflict here in Mindanao.
But the bill has suffered delays due to questions about its constitutionality.
President Rodrigo Duterte has recently certified it as an urgent bill. This signals for the legislators in both houses to expedite the passage of the BBL.
“An approved BBL shall provide a positive alternative to violent extremism,” the group said. (PNA)
