The priest as peacemaker

Should Saddam Hussein show the world that pride is first and foremost the consideration in determining the fate of Iraq under the threat of devastating technological attacks by the United States, the United Kingdom and their allies? Or should he allow disarming to prevent the unnecessary killing of his countrymen and the devastation of physical resources of Iraq? People are divided on the issue, but I believe many people around the globe do not want the Americans to attack Iraq.

The statesmanship of Speaker Joe de Venecia is demonstrated by his position toward the Iraq crisis. He is for Iraq President Saddam Hussein’s negotiating an accommodation with the Americans, the British, and the United Nations Security Council and for him to disarm in order to save the Iraq people from the devastation of a technological war.

In a letter to President Hussein, Speaker de Venecia proposes that Saddam "take the initiative and invite the UN Secretary General, the UN inspectors, representatives of the US and the United Kingdom and of international media (to) show them yourself the mobile chemical stations and underground facilities that they believe are in Iraq, and for Iraq to now truly and fully disarm."

Doing so will be recognized, writes the Speaker, "as a judicious act by the Iraqi people and by the great majority of your Arab neighbors, and cheered by people around the world."

De Venecia believes that beyond a strategic accommodation with the UN and American demands – there is a great future for an open and a pluralist Iraq under Saddam’s continuing leadership.

"In domestic politics, you could begin to award meaningful representation to the Kurds, the Shiites and the Sunni communities and the political opposition through the mechanism of a ‘Government of National Unity’, whose fulcrum would continue to be the Baathist Party.

"And Iraq’s huge oil and gas reserves, its petroleum and chemical industries, as well as its skilled workpeople, can quickly begin to count in regional and global economic competition.

"In foreign policy, an outward-looking and pluralist Iraq could begin to make peace with its neighbor-states such as Kuwait, Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as with the US, Britain and the European Union."

Saddam’s political enemies may interpret his accommodation with the Americans and the UN as an abject ‘surrender’ to them. But Iraq’s friends, the Arabs in the region and people of the world will recognize it, writes De Venecia, "as an act of the highest statesmanship that will avoid war, save tens of thousands of lives, lead Iraq and its people to peace and prosperity, and perpetuate your name in the history of our times."

* * *

Last night, the Aurora Aragon-Quezon Peace Foundation gave two 2003 awards – to Fr. Rufus Halley, MSSC (posthumous), for Peace Advocacy and Peace Making, and to Elisa G. del Puerto for Peace Through Participative Development. Because of space constraints, I’m writing about Father Halley in today’s column, and about Ms. del Puerto in another issue.

At around 4 o’clock in the afternoon of August 30, 2001, an Irish priest, Fr. Rufus Halley, was gunned down along the Narciso Ramos Highway in Malabang, Lanao del Sur. Newspaper reports said he struggled with armed Moro kidnappers who brutally killed him with M-16 rifles. Ironically, he was on his way to his parish after attending a dialogue with Muslims and Christians in a neighboring town. Fr. Popong, as he was fondly called, had spent many years of peace-building between peoples of different faiths. At his wake, Muslim and Christian community workers held hands as they offered their last respect for the slain peacemaker.

* * *

Father Rufus was born in Waterford, Ireland Jan. 5, 1944. A son of a successful lawyer and farmer, he was the second in a family of seven children. He entered the Missionary Society of St. Columban in 1962 and in 1969, he was ordained as priest .

That same year, he was assigned to Silang, Cavite, then returned to Ireland for some deep soul-searching about his future direction. In 1983 he came back to the Philippines, and pursued a mission on Muslim-Christian dialogue in the prelature of Marawi in Lanao del Sur. It was there that he found his heart’s desire. It was with great enthusiasm that he learned the Maranao dialect, Visayan, and even some Arabic. He applied his skills in community integration, even tended a local sari-sari store while living with a Muslim family. He aroused people’s curiosity as he seemed crazy handing out vinegar and canned goods to buyers, said Fr. Colm McKeating, provincial superior of the Columban Society.

He was a brave bridge-builder. He was instrumental in making feuding families to reconcile, and once, Muslim jeepney drivers wanted to test whether they could travel the Narciso Ramos Highway at a critical time, they went on a convoy with Fr. Popong leading the way in the first step. Nothing happened.

* * *

In the bedroom where the late priest spent every night praying and resting his tired body was posted a statement taken from the Koran. It said: "Those who are close to Allah are those who walk humbly on the earth. When people say ‘Fool’, they simply reply: ‘Peace be with you."

* * *

My e-mail address: [email protected]