Bishop proposes security summit

COTABATO CITY — Bishop Orlando Quevedo has called on local officials and all sectoral leaders to immediately convene a "summit" to draw up solutions to security problems gripping this city.

Quevedo, outgoing president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said the summit would provide a venue for sectoral leaders to come up with measures to resolve local security concerns.

The Mindanao Cross, a local weekly newspaper of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate congregation, quoted Quevedo as expressing grief over the spate of violent incidents that have rocked this city.

Quevedo issued the statement four days after the grenade attack in the city’s old market, which left 19 people injured.

The bombing was the seventh to have struck the city in the past 10 months.

Quevedo said recent "political configurations," rivalry among political quarters and other peace and order problems have contributed to the security woes of this city of 37 barangays.

But Cotabato City Mayor Muslimin Sema said the city remains safer than other key areas in Central Mindanao.

He believes that the recent attacks were not the handiwork of terrorists.

"The incidents were in total contrast with the apparent terrorist bombings in other areas of Mindanao," said Sema, also the secretary general of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) which forged a peace pact with the government in 1996.

Sema said the police, with the help of the city’s peace and order council, have succeeded in arresting the suspects in Tuesday night’s market blast just hours after the incident.

Since last January, Sema said the city government has issued 3,990 business permits compared to the 3,532 trading licenses granted last year.

Sema said his office is ready to initiate dialogues with Christian and Muslim religious leaders to solicit their recommendations on how to boost his administration’s peace and development initiatives.

Quevedo appealed for unity among all sectors in addressing the city’s peace and order problems.

"In sum, the simple requirements are a realistic and comprehensive program of recovery and unity of purpose and commitment on the part of all," said Quevedo, whose diocese has jurisdiction over this city and the adjoining provinces of Maguindanao, North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat.