On Sunday,
April 5, Cotabato Cardinal Orlando Quevedo asked the Catholic faithful to pray
for the success of the Citizens’ Peace Summit
He
lauded the president’s move as a response to the waning public support for the
BBL.
He said the
group of five prominent personalities invited by the Chief Executive to convene
the Peace Summit need public support in carrying out their mission to make
Filipinos understand the Mindanao peace
process better and assist Congress in deciding on the BBL.
“The work
of the Peace Council initiated by the President is most laudable. Such effort
needs our prayers and support and may the Lord bless their work for peace,”
Quevedo said in a message sent to Sec. Teresita Qunitos-Deles of the Office of
the Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process (OPAPP).
Those that
President Aquino asked to convene the Peace Summit are Manila Archbishop Luis
Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, former Ambassador
Howard Dee, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and Muslim youth leader
Bai Rohaniza Sumndad Usman. These prominent personalities comprise the peace
council that Aquino created recently.
Cardinal
Quevedo, who is the first Roman Catholic cardinal in Mindanao ,
said the five personalities “are people of integrity and credibility.”
Their
mission, he said, is “to conduct a sober and objective analysis of the proposed
Bangsamoro Basic Law, identify provisions that may be contrary the
Constitution, propose a refinement of them, ensuring that the
self-determination long aspired for by Moros does not become an empty word.”
The five
convenors recently issued a statement accepting the challenge to look into the
provisions of the BBL. They said in their statement, that “We would like to
emphasize that we are not a pressure group or a political movement; but rather,
we are a group that would like to provide an avenue for dialogue between
independent-minded citizens who believe in the importance of understanding the
BBL and to discuss its implications for peace and development in our country at
a fair and reasonable manner.”
The
statement added that they have no intentions “to go beyond our self-imposed
task of helping ourselves and our fellow citizens understand the importance of
the peace issues at hand.”
“In line
with this, we have also agreed to expand our current composition to include
other co-convenors who, like us, are pro-peace and pro-dialogue; the names of
which will be announced after the Holy Week. Moreover, we have also agreed to
invite experts and resource persons, as deemed necessary,” the group said.
http://www.luwaran.com/index.php/welcome/item/833-cardinal-quevedo-ask-catholic-faithful-to-pray-for-the-success-of-citizen-s-peace-summit
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