Mindanao bishops call for peaceful settlement of Zambo crisis

Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Collin Bagaforo. Photo from cbcpnews.com

MANILA—Catholic bishops in Mindanao on Wednesday appealed to both the armed followers of Nur Misuari and the government to resolve the ongoing conflict in Zamboanga City through a peaceful discussion to prevent further casualties especially among civilians.

Over the Church-run Radio Veritas, Cotabato Auxiliary Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo called on Misuari, leader of the Moro National Liberation Front, to voluntarily withdraw his troops from the city as well as on President Aquino to study the group’s reasonable requests.

Bagaforo said that a third-party negotiator was needed to settle the conflict between the two camps.

“We have two appeals. For the MNLF, we urge them to resolve this in a simple and peaceful way. They can voluntarily withdraw from their positions and go back where they came from,” said Bagaforo. “For the government, we ask them to greatly consider the safety of the civilians. There is no other solution to this standoff but to dialogue and negotiate and to study the group’s requests that are reasonable.”

“We also call for a third-party negotiator that will help resolve the situation in Zamboanga,” added the prelate.

Also on Radio Veritas, Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad echoed the same appeal to both the MNLF and the government, saying that both parties should be open to a dialogue for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

“I appeal to Chairman Nur Misuari to be open to dialogue and resolve this crisis through peaceful negotiations [and] order his men to go back home and to stop sowing fear in the city of Zamboanga because Basilan is also affected,” said Jumoad.

Basilan, an island province, is located a few kilometers just off the southern coast of Zamboanga Peninsula.

“For three days now, there are no classes, no ships sailing to and from Basilan and Zamboanga so it has resulted in loss of lives, damage to properties and bad economy. There are no other things that will arise from the violence happening but hatred, too much tension and chaos,” said Jumoad.

Surigao del Sur Bishop Antonieto Cabajug and Tagbilaran Bishop Leonardo Medroso also appealed  to the MNLF fighters to release the hostages and spare  innocent civilians from the conflict.