Mindanao’s first Catholic Cardinal asks for prayers for success of Citizens’ Peace Summit

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo asked the Catholic faithful on Sunday (April 5) to pray during Easter for the success of the Citizens’ Peace Summit that President Benigno S. Aquino III has called to be convened to conduct a public discussion on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and submit findings to Congress to assist in its consideration of the law.

Cardinal Quevedo said the Peace Summit is a laudable move by the President in response to the crisis of public support for the BBL.

He said the group of five prominent personalities invited by the Chief Executive to convene the Peace summit need public support in carrying out their mission to make Filipinos understand the Mindanao peace process better and assist Congress so it could act decisively on the BBL.

“The work of the Peace Council initiated by the President is most laudable. Such effort needs our prayers and support and may the Lord bless their work for peace,” Quevedo said in a message sent to the Mindanao Media Bureau (MMB) of the Office of the Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process (OPAPP) in Cotabato City.

The five personalities asked by President Aquino to convene the Peace Summit are Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, former Ambassador Howard Dee, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala and Muslim youth leader Bai Rohaniza Sumndad-Usman.

Cardinal Quevedo, who is the first Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church to be chosen in Mindanao, said the five personalities “are people of integrity and credibility.”

Quevedo added: “To conduct a sober and objective analysis of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, identify provisions that may be contrary to the Constitution, propose a refinement of them, ensuring that the self-determination long aspired for by Moros does not become an empty word.”

Despite mixed reactions from different sectors to the Peace Summit, the five convenors recently issued a statement accepting the challenge to look into the provisions of the BBL with collective views and recommendations.

“We would like to emphasize that we are not a pressure group or a political movement; but rather, we are a group that would like to provide an avenue for dialogue between independent-minded citizens who believe in the importance of understanding the BBL and to discuss its implications for peace and development in our country at a fair and reasonable manner,” the five convenors said in statement issued last week.

The statement added that they have no intentions “to go beyond our self-imposed task of helping ourselves and our fellow citizens understand the importance of the peace issues at hand.”

The five convenors also said that they will soon announce the names of those that they will invite to participate in the peace summit.

“To make this a more meaningful dialogue, we have also agreed to consolidate all the output of our consultations, discussions, learning and insights in a report that we will share with our fellow countrymen, the President, the legislature, and the judiciary, who we believe are critical stakeholders for peace,” the convenors said. (PNA)