Mindanao religious leaders launch second appeal for a return to peace talks
Cotabato City (AsiaNews) For a second time in less than a month Mindanao religious leaders have urged the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation (MILF) to go back to the negotiating table to stop the violence that is gripping the province.
Police yesterday reported two more bombs, one that exploded and one that was defused. Resulting tensions in the southern archipelago have gone up by another notch.
The blast did not cause any casualties but Filipino authorities believe it was the work of two Islamist militants with connections to the Rajah Solaiman Islamic Movement, which is affiliated with Abu Sayyaf, itself the local branch of al-Qaeda.
As a "peaceful response" to this surge in violence, the Muslim population announced ten days of prayer vigils to stop the violence.
The police is convinced that the same group is organising a series of attacks that should hit the capital Manila in November when All Saints' Day will draw thousands of Catholic faithful.
According to Mgr Orlando Quevedo, archbishop of Cotabato City, only "negotiations can stop a revolt that has been going on for 30 years".
"Filipino society," the prelate said, "must get out of this cage and try somehow to stop the situation".
Mgr Jose Colin Bagaforo, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Cotabato, said: "We have learned from our experiences in the past [that] talking on opposite sides of the negotiating table is still the most rightful thing to do in resolving conflict".
It is the second time that religious leaders call for a return to negotiations. On September 30, the Bishop-Ulama Forum, a grouping of Christian and Muslim religious leaders, appealed to both government and rebels for an immediate resumption of the peace process for the "good of the population of Mindanao".
Talks, which are normally held in Kuala Lumpur, have been suspended for several months after the MILF demanded the right to manage a thousand hectares of land. Manila rejected the demand saying it was unconstitutional; in turn, this brought talks to a halt and led to further hostilities.
The Bishop-Ulama Forum includes 24 Catholic bishops, 18 protestant leaders and 18 ulamas.
They made their appeal after the Forum met in a plenary session in September in Davao City. Among the signatories there is Mgr Fernando Capalla, archbishop of Davao, Rev Hilario Gomes, from the United Church of Christ of the Philippines, and Mahid Mutilan, president of the Ulama League of the Philippines.
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