GMA lauds bishops, ulama
work in interreligious dialog

By Jonathan Mayuga
Correspondent

DAVAO CITY—President Arroyo has lauded the work on interreligious dialogue in Mindanao of the bishops and ulama, or the Islamic leaders and scholars, describing such work as contributory to the prevention of extremism and protection of the “peripheries of peace” in the island.
           
Mrs. Arroyo praised top-ranking leaders of the two religions at the recent 10th anniversary meeting of the Bishops-Ulama Conference (BUC) at the Marco Polo Hotel here with a tribute to the group’s “pioneering effort on interreligious dialogue” which she said was now being acknowledged by global organizations.
           
Founded in November 1996 to help broker peace or find alternatives to periodic breakdown in peace negotiations with two Moro guerrilla organizations in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, the BUC was cited for its “pioneering work in building interfaith dialogues . . . at a time when nobody in the world was giving much attention to [it].”
           
“I am proud to say that it was the Bishops-Ulama Conference who pioneered interfaith dialogue as an instrument in defending the national community against extremism,” she told the BUC meeting, which was also its 30th general assembly.
           
About 120 persons attended, including several Catholic and Protestant bishops, Muslims religious leaders and scholars called ulama, and some representatives of religious peace organizations from India and other countries.
           
Mrs. Arroyo said that after the gathering of Asia’s ulama and bishops in Manila in 2003, “interfaith dialogue appeared in the agenda of major regional and international bodies, such as the United Nations and Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations].
           
She said the Asean Summit to be held in Cebu would be “an occasion to show the world a new Philippines.”
           
She rattled off a list of social and economic indicators that she said was attained during her administration, including the achievements in the area of peace in the Philippine South. “Our economic indicators are rosy: inflation is easing, we have a higher dollar reserve, the market is bullish and we have a strong peso.”
           
To the BUC, she said “your cooperation and understanding are key in moving our country forward: in strengthening the spiritual and moral fiber of our society, in sustaining the spirit of enterprise among our people, in keeping up our guard against terror and destabilization, in bringing peace to Mindanao, and in guiding us towards the preferential option for the poor.”
           
Mrs. Arroyo also appealed for similar “support and understanding” from the bishops and the ulama to help her administration “reach out to the grassroots [and] deliver government service to the indigent Filipinos.”
           
In the government quest for peace in Mindanao, she said the religious leaders have also provided their own help initiatives on several occasions. “When we had the recent problems in our negotiations, you, the Bishops-Ulama Conference not only lent your voice of confidence that there is a way forward, but you also consulted with Mindanaoans and proposed specific avenues for peace,” she said.
           
“If we can say the Philippines has never seen a religious war, it is due to great interfaith solidarity of our people, with the Bishops-Ulama Conference in the lead,” she said.
           
She added that with “understanding and enlightenment, commensurate actions will follow to safeguard the perimeters of peace.”
           
“You are the sentinels of trust, understanding and goodwill among the tri-peoples of Mindanao—the Muslims, Christians and lumad. May God’s grace be with us and all the peoples of the world,” she said.
           
Arroyo appeared at the BUC as its guest for only 10 minutes, including the six-minute speech, before she flew back to Manila for a meeting on Super Typhoon Reming (international code name: Durian).
           
The meeting of the BUC was attended by its conveners: Archbishop Fernando Capalla of  Davao City, Bishop Hilario Gomez of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, and Dr. Mahid Mutilan, president of the Ulama League of the Philippines.