In a statement, Ceap proposed these action points:
- Investigate thoroughly the cases of violence in Mindanao;
- Mobilize existing joint mechanisms like the International Monitoring Team, the Joint Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities and the Ad Hoc Joint Action Group to perform peace keeping, avoid miscommunication and spreading of unverified reports;
- Attend to the victims of the Mindanao conflict;
- Intensify formal peace talks;
- Strengthen local peace processes; and
- Harness spiritual and cultural resources wherein spiritual leaders scale up their mission of calling people to prayer, dialogue, harmony, justice and integrity.
In a statement, Cocopea supported Ceap’s position and expressed particular concern over the thousands of children in ravaged areas in Mindanao who had been displaced from their schools. The council urged that the needs of these schoolchildren be attended to immediately.
The statement added that cognizant of the role of private schools in nation-building, Cocopea “continues to respond to the exigencies of the times.”
Cocopea is composed of the Ceap, the Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, the Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities, the Philippine Association of Private Schools, Colleges and Universities, and the Technical Vocational Schools Association of the Philippines.
(Sara Fabunan)
