Catholic bishops to hold peace consultations in Mindanao

DAVAO CITY – Catholic bishops in Mindanao are planning to hold community peace consultations following stalled peace negotiations between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“The Mindanao Bishops’ Consultation Plan” reportedly stemmed from the request of the government that the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) lead in community consultations after the peace talks were held up over the botched signing of the Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD) between the government and the MILF.

The Mindanao Catholic bishops came up with the final draft of the plan during a gathering here last month.

The consultation plan is basically aimed at healing Christian-Muslim relations in Mindanao wherein certain guidelines will serve as parameters in the conduct of the community consultations.

Results of the consultations will be presented to President Arroyo and the MILF leadership for consideration.

The same consultation plan will reportedly also be shared with the other BUC convenors, the Protestant and the Ulama sectors. The indigenous peoples groups will also hold their own consultation, as they are also official observers in the BUC.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza earlier said the planned community consultations would provide new dynamics to the stalled peace process.

The same process of consultations will reportedly be held among the respective constituents of the Protestant, Ulama and indigenous peoples sectors in the BUC.

Meanwhile, the Catholic bishops will undertake general community consultations on aspirations for peace, development and justice among the Lumads, and Islamic and Christian communities, particularly the 23 indigenous peoples tribes and the Bangsamoro people.

The bishops’ consultations will start at the diocese level of each of the jurisdictions of the 13 Catholic bishops in Mindanao, involving the clergy, religious and the laity.

The results of the consultations on the diocese level will then be brought by the bishops to the ecclesiastical provinces of sub-regions of the Catholic church in Mindanao.

A regional conference or congress for justice, development and peace will be held wherein the results of the diocesan and sub-regional consultations will be collated and presented.

In the same congress, bishops and their respective group of Church leaders will approve a “final document” that would be presented to the President and the MILF leadership.

The Mindanao bishops’ consultation plan also indicated it would also be possible that the result of their consultations will be integrated with the results of the other BUC sectors after the Ulama, Protestant and the IP groups have conducted their own separate summit or congress.

For many peace advocates in the South, the 11-year-old government-MILF peace overture virtually collapsed with the aborted MOA-AD.

The MOA-AD outlined the government and the MILF’s bilateral setting up of a Muslim homeland in Mindanao and its proposed governing mechanism, the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity.

The Supreme Court, acting on petitions by certain local officials in Mindanao, restrained at first the government panel from signing the MOA-AD and subsequently dismissed it as unconstitutional.

The SC ruling sparked renewed fighting after MILF forces led by radical commanders, among them Ameril Umbra Kato and Abdullah Macapaar, attacked villages in Mindanao.

The conflict has displaced thousands, many of them still languishing in the adjoining provinces of North Cotabato, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur and Shariff Kabunsuan.

‘Contained and isolated’

The military assuaged fears of villagers in the borders of two Lanao provinces as the frequency of hostilities between government troops and rogue MILF forces has increased.

Maj. Gen. Nehemias Pajarito, chief of the Army’s 1st Division told the villagers to stay calm amid threats issued by wanted MILF leader Abdullah Macapaar alias Commander Bravo that he would not surrender while warning to intensify attacks.

While the rogue faction of Macapaar has the capability if given the chance, the military said the group has been “contained and isolated.”

“It was very clear that even if he continues to challenge us, we knew it’s all propaganda for him because he is afraid his followers would desert him,” Pajarito said.

The military official also assured the civilians that the operation is only directed at the group of Macapaar, who is carrying the reward of P10 million posted by the government for attacking the civilian communities in Lanao that has resulted in the death of more than 40 people and the destruction of properties.

The assurance came even as the military was seeking to de-list some 20 names in the MILF from being in the rogue group that perpetrated the Aug.18 atrocities in the towns of Kolam-bugan and Kauswagan towns in Lanao del Norte.

UN help sought

Some 50 representatives of various Moro-led non-government organizations and cause-oriented groups have asked the United Nations to help resolve peacefully the conflict in the South.

The group sent UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon a letter the other day, drafted after a dialogue in Davao City, calling on the international body to intervene in the armed conflict.

“Towards our collective end of addressing the conflict in the Southern Philippines, we earnestly appeal to the Office of the UN Secretary-General for a continuing support to the Civil Society’s efforts in peace-building, conflict prevention and transformation,” the group said in their letter. – Edith Regalado, Roel Pareño, John Unson