CIVILIAN leaders, political figures and church officials from all over Mindanao are asking President Rodrigo Duterte to order the resumption of the peace talks after he declared for its delay.
In a unified resolution drafted during a gathering in Cagayan de Oro, they urged the Duterte administration to “do all the necessary steps and forward reforms that would end poverty in all forms.”
The resolution was the result of joint statements that essentially appealed to the government during a two-day forum organized by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) at a hotel in Cagayan de Oro on June 21.
The second Mindanao Peace Forum for Legislators and Local Governments participants said they are alarmed by the “repeated cancellation” of the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front especially now that the panelists are deep into negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement of Social Economic Reforms (Caser) aimed at addressing “the structural inequalities underpinning both conflict and poverty in Mindanao.”
The forum attendees said they are “deeply concerned by the enormous impact of the armed conflict on marginalized and vulnerable sectors, resulting in massive internal displacement, disruption of livelihoods, fear and trauma among women and children.”
The continuation of the peace talks, said NAPC Secretary Liza Maza, is very essential to improve the lives of the poor and the less fortunate.
“To end poverty therefore requires us to build peace – and vice versa -- for there is a close mutual relation between poverty and peace. Where there is armed conflict, families are often displaced and their access to even the most basic needs are compromised. And where there is chronic poverty and gross inequality, there is social unrest,” said Maza in her message to the forum participants.
For his part, Bayan Muna partylist Representative Carlos Isagani Zarate said in his speech that it is the role of legislators to formulate laws that keep in mind the interest of those who are living in poverty.
“Our engagement in peace building as law makers is to ensure that our laws are on the side of the marginalized,” Zarate said.
He also urged his fellow members of Congress to file bills and resolutions that “forward the cause of genuine agrarian reform, self-determination, national industrialization, the protection of human rights, providing workers a live wage, or shelter for the homeless.”
“Our role as legislators is to use our stature and platform to criticize policies and programs that exacerbate the plight of our people... As legislators, we should be instruments in genuinely resolving the root causes of the rebellions in our country,” Zarate added.