Stakeholders call for more interfaith dialogues to aid Mindanao peace process
COTABATO CITY – Differing religious views should not hinder the peace process in Mindanao, religious leaders and other stakeholders, said here Friday.
However, they also agreed that there was a need for more interfaith dialogues so that religions can help achieve the spirit of peace in Mindanao – where people are so diverse.
“Today’s peace process hopes to meet the challenges of building a new society of living together, respect for human rights, and tribal participation in the new envisioned political era for Mindanao in the Philippines, and the world in general,” Alberto Quattrucci, secretary general of the Peoples and Religions Community of Sant’Egidio, a sectarian member of the International Contact Group involved in the peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, said.
Speaking at the two-day international peace forum, dubbed as “Peace is Living Together” that opened Friday at the Notre Dame University here, Quattrucci underscored the significance of taking the path of inter-religious dialogue and reaching out to the poorest and the most disadvantaged segment of the human race.
“Religions can be the uplifting voice of the poor, a peace builder in a war regarded as the mother of all poverty that can be won if we are united by heart,” he said.
Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo agreed by saying that while religions can differ, faith was common in everyone’s heart.
“Inter-religious dialogue is one way to achieve lasting peace, but the heart is the basic denominator. A peaceful heart manifests love for others, who are one with each other,” Quevedo, who was instrumental in the formation of the Bishop-Ulama interfaith dialogue in the Southern Philippines, said at the same forum.
Quevedo said “respect, mutual understanding, and trust for each other” were also important “in order for peace to reign.”
Sudibyo Markus, vice chair of the central board of Indonesia’s Muhammadiyah University, said religious extremism that create havoc and destruction to lives and properties arises from misinterpretation of some religious verses, including that of the Koran.
“This (extremism) is happening everywhere, because they think textually not contextually,” he said.
Teresita Quintos-Deles, presidential adviser on the peace process, said in the case of the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the government and the rebel group made sure that “representatives of Muslim, Christian, and indigenous people (were) appointed as commissioners” of the newly-formed Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC).
The BTC was the body that drafted the Bangsamoro Basic Law, which will become the foundation of the new entity that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
“The envisioned Bangsamoro ministerial government will also have allotted seats to ensure that diverse voices will be heard as part of policy-making and good governance. The central government will always uphold its role to ensure that unity in diversity flourishes, and that peaceful coexistence and shared prosperity shall be the norm in a
Bangsamoro era,” Deles said in an emailed statement.
She said that “peace is ultimately about coexistence and inclusion. In no way is it a one-way street.”
“Peace is for all of us and, thus, requires a shared commitment from all of us, as well,” adding that she was happy to “see men and women of varying levels of experience and expertise, of divergent faiths and ethnicities coming together yet again.”
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