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“No to war” – Muslim official |
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Written by Mitch Defensor
Friday, 12 March 2010
BUTUAN CITY, March 12 – Mindanao cannot afford another all-out war in the magnitude of the ‘70s that brought a wide swath of destruction to lives and property and a stagnant economic growth in the region, according to a ranking Muslim official.
Sukarno Muhamad, regional director in Caraga Region of the newly created National Commission of Muslim Filipinos (NCMF), tearfully related his experience and the hardship of tens of thousands of civilians affected by the fighting between government forces and the then Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in southern Philippines during that gloomy period of the country’s history.
Muhamad, who was young when the war broke out, was one of the resource speakers at the reflective dialogue conducted here Thursday which was attended by 430 people from various sectors of society in the Caraga Region.
He recalled that sometime in February 1973, he saw more than 300 bodies, including women and children killed following a rampage by MNLF forces when the war broke out. Their bodies were strewn in the streets.
Muhamad stressed the importance of peace, saying “peace should be achieved now in the peace with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).”
“War and armed conflict should not come back to haunt the people of Mindanao,” he said.
The Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) is conducting a series of “reflective dialogues” nationwide to find a lasting solution to the decades-old Mindanao problem that has claimed the lives of some 150,000 people with the government spending over P150 billion for the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Muhamad said the reflective dialogues would promote understanding among cultural-cross section of society.
“The OPAPP reflective dialogues would help all concerned stakeholders to promote cultural understanding and not foment prejudices and conflict,” Muhamad said.
Among those who showed up at the forum here were representatives from the Caraga Council for Peace and Develop (CCPD), priests and seminarians from Agusan and local officials from Surigao, farmers , fisher folks met, indigenous groups and other sectors from the religious, academe, business, women, youth and local government units (LGUs).
“Dialogue Mindanaw” is a positive development as it reflects the true will and sentiments of the people as they can talk freely of their opinions.
The daylong forum was held t the St. Peter’s College Seminary here.
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Last Updated on Saturday, 20 March 2010 03:54 |
