ILIGAN CITY—Like in the past years it won’t just be a seven-day Mindanao Week of Peace celebration in Iligan and Lanao provinces but a month-long peace festival.
Pastor Tenorio, chair of the Civil Society Forum for Peace, said they will celebrate the festival with the theme “Kultura sa Kalinaw, Ipadayon ug Ipatunhay” (Nurture and Continue the Culture of Peace). He said this is in support to the Bishops Ulama Conference’s theme “Common Word between Us and You: Love of God and Love of Neighbor.”
The Mindanao Week of Peace (MWoP) was initiated by Peace Advocates Zamboanga and was adopted the BUC to sustain interfaith dialogue for peace and development.
Archbishop Fernando Capalla, co-convener of BUC, explained that this year’s MWoP centers on love as common value of peoples despite amid religious and cultural diversity.
In Iligan and Lanao, the series of activities started on November 16 with a blood donation activity led by the 2nd Mechanized Brigade and the Philippine Red Cross at the city plaza. On same day, the Center for Human Rights Education of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension of MSU-IIT held a forum on 10th Wave of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act of 1995 at the campus’ mini-theater.
The rest of the activities include:
November 17-18 and 24: community-based education on violence against women and anti-trafficking in Maigo town of Lanao del Norte and in barangay Tambacan of Iligan; feeding for malnourished children and distribution of school supplies at Tambacan;
November 20: commemoration of the Universal Children’s Day;
November 21: flag-raising ceremony at the city government’s amphitheater;
November 23: vigil for the second anniversary of the Ampatuan massacre;
November 21-25: hour-long radio program on Peace and Democracy in DXLS of Iligan;
November 26: linked broadcast on human rights will be broadcasted on Iligan’s DXRJ, Marawi’s DXEM FM and Pagadian’s DXKV. Women rights will also be tackled in “Adan ug Eba (Adan and Eve) at DXRJ and Tingog sa Kababayen-an (Voices of Women) in DXIC in different time slots;
November 25 to December 10: 16 days campaign for the elimination of violence against women;
November 25: Peace and Security Forum by the military and police;
November 26: Hataw and Walk for Peace;
November 28: Church-sponsored Peace Forum from 9a.m.-4p.m. at the Pastoral Center ISK Seminary here; and
November 30: A forum on Substate and the GPH-MILF Peace Talks in Marawi City.
The festival will culminate on December 12 with a parade and program on anti-child trafficking at the city plaza, free distribution of books about peacebuilding and mediation and a sports fellowship among civil society groups here. (Violeta M.Gloria/MindaNews)
