End Wars not Lives! Around 40 members of the Alpha Phi Omega fraternity participate in this year’s Oblation Run in UP Diliman at Palma Hall. Noy Morcoso / INQUIRER.net
Members of the Alpha Phi Omega (APO) fraternity ran naked at the University of the Philippines Diliman on Friday to call for the rebuilding of Marawi City and a reboot on war on drugs.
The APO dedicates its annual ritual Oblation Run—its fratmen running naked around the campus—for a cause.
This year, the APO called on the government to rebuild the war-torn Marawi City “in an efficient and timely manner” in order to avoid “the same scattershot approach to rehabilitation implemented in the wake of typhoon Yolanda in 2013.”
They also expressed their belief for a “community-based approach” in the government’s war on drugs instead of “allowing state security forces and lawless elements to kill drug suspects with impunity.”
The group also called for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao, saying “increased militarization has only led to deeper insecurity for national minorities in the island, and shows a lack of goodwill toward the belligerent groups in that area who are in differing levels of engagement with the state.”
They also urged the government to resume peace talks with communist rebels and address the roots of armed conflict.
President Rodrigo Duterte recently terminated the peace negotiations with communists as hostilities supposedly continued amid the talks.
READ: Duterte signs Proclamation No. 360 terminating peace talks with NPA
“APO UP Diliman is calling for an end to wars that lead to death, and asks the government to shift its focus rebuilding lives,” the group said in a statement. /jpv