CULMINATION. Some 200 leaders and members of groups representing the Christian, Muslim, and Indigenous Peoples communities join in the culmination activity of the Mindanao Week of Peace celebration at the Bishop’s House in Butuan City on Wednesday (Dec. 4, 2019). The participants issued a call for unity to attain genuine peace in the region. (PNA photo by Alexander Lopez)
BUTUAN CITY – Leaders representing the Indigenous Peoples (IPs), Muslims, and Christians in the Caraga region jointly called for unity to "win the peace" in the region.
In his message during the culmination of the weeklong celebration of Mindanao Week of Peace at the Bishop’s House here on Wednesday, Butuan Diocese Bishop Cosme Damian Almedilla urged the people of Caraga to “unite in solving our societal problems, the insurgency, and other issues and concerns of the different sectors.”
It is only through unity that people in the region can attain genuine peace and live in harmony until the next generation, he said.
Almedilla’s call was also supported by Director Ferdausi S. Cerna of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) 13 (Caraga), who encouraged the "tri-people" in the area to "not just preach peace but also live with it."
Cerna added that the people of Caraga must win over the fear that serves as a hindrance to achieving lasting peace.
Lawyer Paisal M. Mamintal of the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) 13 emphasized the similarities between cultures of the people of Mindanao that he said can become the "strength to attain peace."
"We may hold varying beliefs and follow different religions, yet we were conceived from one ancestry," Mamintal said.
The celebration that started on November 28 featured dialogues among the tri-people in Caraga on different perspectives on peace and development.
Brig. Gen. Maurito Licudine, commander of the Army’s 402nd Brigade, told the participants that sincerity is also needed among parties in conflict to achieve lasting peace in the area and Mindanao.
Licudine said as a soldier, he has witnessed the brutal effects of war on people and communities.
Winning the peace, he said, means all parties "must work one," citing the role of everyone in the ongoing implementation of the "whole-of-nation approach" of the government to end local communist conflicts in communities.
Abner Caga, officer-in-charge of Philippine Information Agency 13 and concurrent director in Caraga, also noted the importance of proper communication and dialogue among all sectors in the region.
Caga asked the participants to help the government fight the spread of fake information that “acts as a leverage of the leftist groups for the purpose of eroding the foundation of the relationship between various sectors that strive for peace.”
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1087975
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