Zamboanga (Fides Service) – The national plan for unity and reconciliation launched by President Gloria Arroyo “is a good opportunity to re-launch dialogue and the peace process although there is a danger that this is only a political move to win votes in the elections in 2004”. This is the opinion of Father Sebastiano D’Ambra, member of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) in Zamboanga City, on Mindanao. Father D’Ambra is the founder of Harmony Village, where Christians and Muslims live happily together.
To negotiate with the different parties the President has asked for the help of Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao who will take office as President of the Bishops’ Conference on 1 December. “Archbishop Capalla – Father D’Ambra told Fides – has been entrusted with a delicate task: his presence is important because he is respected by the New People’s Army and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Despite the difficulties and criticism he may encounter, I encourage him to take the risk because peace building calls also for personal sacrifice ”.
The National Reconciliation Plan announced by the President aims to reach agreements with political leaders and with extremists active through the Philippines. President Arroyo mentions the family of former dictator Ferdinando Marcos, ousted president Joseph Estrada, business tycoon Eduard Cojuangco junior and also guerrilla groups New People’s Army and Moro Islamic Liberation Front as well as the army officers who staged the mutiny in July this year.
The plan includes to setting up of a Truth Commission to investigate illegal trafficking, corruption and violence which have marked recent decades of Philippines’ history. The Archbishop was chosen to mediate because “he has the esteem and trust of all parities concerned ”.(PA) (Fides Service 13/11/2003 lines: 35; words:338)