Noy thanks Japan for backing peace pact with MILF

HIROSHIMA – President Aquino yesterday thanked the Japanese government for supporting the peace process with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

In his keynote speech at the 6th Consolidation for Peace for Mindanao, a conference sponsored by Japan International Cooperation Agency and Research and Education for Peace of the Universiti Sains Malaysia here, the President said his meeting with MILF leaders in Tokyo was the turning point in the peace negotiations.

“I cannot overemphasize just how much Japan has contributed in nurturing the atmosphere of fairness and hope that enabled all of us to look towards a future of meaningful opportunities, especially for those in the Bangsamoro,” he said.

“My people, therefore, will forever be grateful for such kindness: arigatou gozaimasu (thank you very much),” he added.

The President arrived here from Tokyo, where he had lunch with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Saying wars cannot bring back the lives of those who died in conflicts, regardless how short they are, he stressed the need for the world to live in peace.

The President recalled the August 1945 attack on this city and in Nagasaki that claimed thousands of lives.

He said the tragedy should remind people of the “futile results of conflict” and impress upon them the “collective responsibility we hold in defending the rights of our respective peoples to live not only without fear, but to live in a world where peace is a shared reality by all nations.”

“Whenever it seems that the path to peace is filled with so many obstacles, when our spirits are tested and our faith in the processes are shaken, those of us who are in a position to make decisions must remember what happened here in Hiroshima, in Nagasaki, and in the many places that have faced and are now experiencing conflict: If we falter, it is the innocent who will pay the ultimate price,” Aquino pointed out. – With Perseus Echeminada