DAVAO CITY, February 17, 2009—Now, the people from the Visayan region are calling Malacañang to heed the call of peace advocates for peace in Mindanao .

The City Council of Bacolod endorsed a resolution asking President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to listen to the appeal for peace of the Negros contingent of a peace caravan which traveled last November from Baguio to Cotabato.

The resolution was a product of a dialogue between the local government of Bacolod and members of Pax Christi Bacolod Chapter that composed the Duyog Mindanao Negros contingent. They joined the caravan leg from Bacolod to Mindanao, passing by Cagayan de Oro, Bukidnon, Davao , Lanao and converged in Cotabato City in time for the Mindanao Week of Peace.

Apart from the Pax Christi participants, the caravan was also composed of indigenous peoples from the Cordillera, workers, students, Moro youth, women, activists, non-government organization (NGO) workers from Luzon, Metro Manila, as well as the core group of internally displaced persons (IDPs), church workers, Moro community leaders from Mindanao and members of the Initiative for International Dialogue (IID), the Davao-based regional advocacy institution which serves as the Mindanao Peaceweavers (MPW) secretariat.

Bacolod Councilor Jocelle Batapa–Sigue passed Resolution No. 972 expressing solidarity with the delegates of the Duyog Mindanao Caravan for Peace and Solidarity who have witnessed the plight of IDPs in the evacuation centers of Datu Piang in Maguindanao and Lanao province. The resolution was submitted to the Office of the President.

The resolution cited the observations of the Pax Christi delegates who have witnessed that majority of the people and communities in Mindanao want to end the armed conflict and live in peace. Upon entry to evacuation centers in Datu Piang and Lanao, they saw the grave conditions of “bakwit” Muslim, Lumads and Christian brothers and sisters who for several months now are deprived of basic human needs like water and sanitation, education, food and dignified living condition.

The Bacolod councilors also called on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to stop the war in Mindanao and asked both parties to sit down and resume the peace talks instead of going to war.

They also asked the public to help the IDPs who badly need humanitarian aid in whatever means possible. “Children, women and the elderly which are the most vulnerable in this situation need food, medicines and other basic support like water, clothing, and other items.”

“The armed hostilities between the military and the MILF have indeed reached dangerous proportions because our internally displaced brothers and sisters in Datu Piang alone have reached 600,000 and more are unaccounted for in different areas affected by the conflict,” said Mark Cervantes of Pax Christi.

Cervantes added that their experience with Duyog Mindanao encouraged them to pursue their solidarity with the people of Mindanao and put the objectives of the caravan into action.

Similar resolutions are expected to be passed by the Negros provincial board, the Iloilo city council, Davao City council, Mindoro provincial board among others. (Mark S. Ventura)