Davao (Fides Service) – Peace talks between the Philippines government and rebel groups fighting for secession in the southern Islands have not yet started but for Christmas there will at least be a truce for the martyred people in Mindanao and the Sulu archipelago .
This area is home to famous Muslim resistance groups including the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) but the people are also at the mercy of criminal groups who perpetrate acts of extortion, kidnapping and murder, such as Abu Sayyaf, Pentagon and the New People’s Army (NPA), inspired by Communism.
While a cease fire agreement with the MILF signed earlier in the year holds and pending official peace talks which should begin soon, the NPA has declared a truce from 21 December to l 4 January since President Gloria Arroyo announced a suspension of military operations for 27 days, 10 December to 6 January, saying she is willing to talk with the New People’s Army.
On the large island of Mindanao thousands of displaced families forced by the violence to abandon their homes are subject to violence by rebels and military searching for rebels hiding in villages. Speaking to Fides, local sources welcome the announcement of a truce and they say hope that Christmas will be a time of tranquillity for families in the large cities such as Davao, Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato as well as in rural villages.
In November in Mindanao initiatives for a celebration of a Week of Peace including various meetings and interreligious dialogue events were highly successful drawing participation en masse of Christians and Muslims.
Recently Father Roberto Layson OMI, aged 44 parish priest at Pikit, North Cotabato was made an honorary Nino Aquino Fellow 2004, for outstanding personal commitment to promoting interreligious harmony and peace in Southern Philippines.
(PA) (Fides Service 16/12/2003 lines 33 words 351)