ASIA/PHILIPPINES - Cardinal Quevedo: "May president Duterte work for peace in Mindanao"

Saturday, 14 May 2016 peace reconciliation dialogue islam violence

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Davao (Agenzia Fides) – Need to address the issue regarding stability and reconciliation in Mindanao and immediately engage in defining the peace process with the Islamic community and the communist rebels: asks Cardinal Orland Quevedo, Archbishop of Davao to newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte, who for 22 years was mayor of the same city, Davao, on the island of Mindanao. As Fides learns, the Cardinal stressed the urgency of peace talks, urging to "consider the Church as a positive force and a partner for national development" also in this field. Achieving peace "is possible without the need for constitutional revisions" said Cardinal Quevedo, while the president had expressed in the past the idea of reforming the country's constitution, to implement a form of federal government.
According to the Cardinal, federalism is a long-term project, which must take into consideration the urgencies of the present. One of these is the approval of the "Bangsamoro Basic Law", developed after decades of conflict and ran aground before the approval of Congress, in the previous Parliament.
The Archbishop of Davao also suggested Duterte’s administration to consider the revision of school textbooks, which "perpetuate misinformation about Muslims and other tribal peoples of Mindanao", recalling the efforts made in recent years regarding interreligious dialogue. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 14/05/2016)