ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Bishops, ulamas, and military meet for the vote

Davao City (Agenzia Fides) – The Church, the Islamic community, and the Philippine security forces will be united and working together to "ensure credible, transparent, and peaceful elections" and "ensuring the common good of the country." This is what the Filipino bishops, together with prominent Islamic leaders and chiefs of police and national army, have declared in the meeting of the Bishop Ulama Conference (BUC) being held today and tomorrow, April 28 and 29, in Davao City (on Mindanao Island, Southern Philippines).
As Fides has learned from sources present, the customary interreligious meeting (the conference has been held for the past 14 years) between bishops and ulamas this year was dedicated to the upcoming general election on May 10 and will in fact officially have senior officials of the Filipino security forces (police and army) on duty. Military officials present will explain how the preparations are going to ensure the voting takes place “in complete safety and without violence." This implies the crucial step to dismantle private armies that exist in the Philippines, clan affiliations, and real "warlords" who still have control, especially on the island of Mindanao.
Mindanao has become the focus of attention for the BUC: firstly because the voices of "fraud, threats, violence, and manipulated votes" especially concern South Philippines (recalling the massacre of Maguindanao in November 2009) and secondly, because it is home to a large Filipino Islamic community (about six million people), and here there are problems of the armed rebellion of Islamist guerrilla groups and the presence of terrorist groups.
According to information gathered by Fides, the Conference today urged all candidates to "not use the demonization of the opponent or methods of political smearing in election propaganda," asking all religious leaders to promote, in view of elections, initiatives of peace such as fasting and prayer. (PA) (Agenzia Fide 04/28/2010)