Saturday, December 02, 2006 Military, NGOs work for peace By Lino dela Cruz Lanao Correspondent
LANAO DEL NORTE -- The military and non-government organizations are now more focused on working for peace-building six years after the "all out war" against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Hundreds of Christians and Muslims displayed their unity the other day at the start of the annual "Week of Peace" and made a 200-kilometer caravan from the town of Kauswagan up to Sultan Naga Dimaporo (SND), this province.
The annual caravan which had its beginning during the "all out war" against the Moro rebels in 2000 started in the town of Kauswagan, where an armed conflict between the MILF rebels and government troops triggered more fighting that year.
The MILF and the government eventually agreed to a peace negotiation that is yet to be concluded after several meetings, the latest of which got stalled because of the issue of ancestral domain.
"Apart from promoting peace building, one of our objectives in this year's celebration of the "Week of Peace" is to urge the government and the MILF peace panels to continue the peace negotiations." Dr. Romulo dela Rosa, program manager of the Voluntary Service Organization, said.
Part of the weeklong celebration will be the Peace Summit on December 6 where the adviser on the peace process, Secretary Jesus Dureza, is expected to attend.
Representatives of the Bishop Ulama Conference, members of the peace panels, governors of Lanao del Sur and Lanao del Norte, mayors of Iligan and Marawi cities, town mayors, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and International Monitoring Team (IMT), will also attend among others.
Meanwhile, the officers and men of the Philippine Army's "Tabak" Division based in Pulacan, Zamboanga del Sur recently concluded a seminar of peace building.
Major General Raymundo Ferrer, Philippine Army's 1st Tabak Division commander who tapped several non-government organizations for the seminar, said, "Maybe it's about time we teach our soldiers to do peace building."
Major General Ferrer added that "the military has more idle time than combat time, so they might as well find other productive things to do like helping build peace and improve life in the community," as he noted the prevailing peace in the area.
Foreign countries like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and some countries in the European Union are now more involved in the peace process by giving aids in former war-torn areas through the United States Agency for International Development.
Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Libya are members of the International Monitoring Team, which supervises the ceasefire agreement between government troops and the MILF in Mindanao.
