Quevedo calls for more dialogues to promote lasting peace

COTABATO CITY – Retired Cardinal Orlando Quevedo on Sunday called for continuing dialogues to promote true understanding and lasting peace in the country, especially in Mindanao’s troubled communities.

In a statement issued in time with the observance of Mindanao Peace Week, Quevedo urged the conduct of more dialogues that are “not merely intellectual discussion (but characterized by) all listening humbly and respectfully to the other.”

“Dialogues should entail listening with one’s ears, but most importantly listening with one’s heart,” said Quevedo, the country’s eighth cardinal who retired on November 6, and was replaced by Jolo Bishop Angelito Lampon.

He cited as example the kind of dialogues that made peace possible between the forces of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

He said Mindanao was already on the “threshold of definitive peace,” referring to the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that stemmed from two major peace accords forged by the government and the MILF in 2013 and 2014.

The BOL, officially known as R.A. 11054, seeks to create the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) in lieu of the 29-year old Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

It calls for the conduct of a plebiscite on Jan. 21, 2019 in ARMM and other areas proposed for inclusion in BARMM, namely the cities of Cotabato and Isabela, six towns in Lanao del Norte and 39 villages in six North Cotabato towns.

After his retirement, Quevedo had vowed to continue advocating peace dialogues relative to the BOL implementation stages.

He had earlier told The Manila Bulletin he would rally actively for the inclusion of this city into the BARMM, unlike in 1989 and 2001 when church leaders played key roles in the residents’ disapproval of inclusion in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Quevedo attended here on Sunday the launch of MILF Vice Chairman Mohager Iqbal’s book entitled “Negotiating Peace: An Insider’s Perspective to the Bangsamoros’ Struggle for SelfDetermination.”

The book compiles Iqbal’s chronologically-arranged speeches delivered from 2005 to 2016 as the MILF engaged in peace negotiation with the Philippine government.