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Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform
National Assembly
February 13, 2010
Davao City
Unity Statement
“The Peace of the Other, is Our Peace, is My Peace”
We, leaders and members of different Christian churches from all over the
Philippines, have come together in Davao, accompanied by our partners from
the Norwegian Ecumenical Peace Platform (NEPP), for this first National
Assembly of the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform (PEPP). We believe in
the primacy of the human person in our aspirations for an equitable and
sustainable peace in the country. We are guided by the following
principles of peace: human dignity and equality; respect for human life;
promotion of human rights; common good; democratic and moral government;
dignity of human labor, and, solidarity.
The Filipino people continue to be confronted by the forces of unpeace.
Our people struggle daily with personal and structural violence.
The peace talks are stalled between the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
since 2004.
At our first National Assembly as an ecumenical peace movement, we heard
both parties and the voices from the grassroots. We also shared
experiences and strengthened our consensus and resolve in working for a
just peace.
We reiterate our call to the GRP and NDFP to resume formal peace talks,
fully implement the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights
and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) by convening the Joint
Monitoring Committee and acting on the complaints of human rights
violations against both Parties, and restart the negotiations on the
Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).
The urgency of implementing CARHRIHL is underscored by the continuing
extra-judicial killings, the recent Maguindanao massacre which government
forces had failed to prevent and in which some of them are even alleged to
have participated in, and by the even more recent arrest and reported
ill-treatment, including torture and reportedly planting of false
evidence, against 43 health workers.
The need for a CASER becomes even more pressing with our people's
increasing hardships and misery with our floundering economy being further
battered by the global financial and economic crisis and environmental
disasters.
We welcome the intent of the two Parties to accelerate the talks by
forming the working groups for political and constitutional reforms and
the end of hostilities and disposition of forces.
With the coming national and local elections in May, we call on the
candidates and the electorate to include in their platforms and agenda
their concrete programs to bring about the fundamental reforms necessary
for the attainment of a just and enduring peace.
As we observe the season of Lent, we, participants to this PEPP National
Assembly, following Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, commit ourselves
unwaveringly on this arduous road to a just and enduring peace. We call on
our brothers and sisters in our local churches to join us in expanding
this peace constituency so that we can offer a venue of hope through
reflective dialogue and enabling actions.
February 13, 2010
Brokenshire Convention Center
Davao City
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