Monday, September 15, 2008 Opapp marks 15th anniversary
THE Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (Opapp) will observe its 15th anniversary during simple ceremonies at its main office in Pasig City on Monday.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Hermogenes Esperon Jr. said Commissioner Rene Sarmiento of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and former Opapp head, will be guest of honor and speaker.
Two other prominent peace advocates are Professor Rudy Rodil, former member of the newly disbanded government peace panel talking to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and lawyer. Sedfrey Candelaria, a member of the government peace panel negotiating with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People's Army (NPA), and National Democratic Front (NDF).
The three are expected to speak about the ongoing peace process being pursued by the government to find an amicable settlement to the country's insurgency problem.
Esperon said the government will not give up on peace even as fighting erupted anew in Central Mindanao between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the MILF.
"The peace process will continue," he said.
Esperon had just returned from Malaysia, bringing with him a letter from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.
He said in the letter, the President explained the Philippine government's non-signing of the controversial Memorandum of Agreement on Ancestral Domain (MOA-AD).
It also discussed to explore ways of sustaining the peace process and other related issues in Mindanao.
Esperon said the door to peace is always open.
He said the month of September is also observed as national consciousness month.
September was chosen as peace month because it was on September 2, 1996 that the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) signed a peace accord in Mindanao. (JMR/Sunnex)
