ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanews/28 March) – A consortium of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) based in this city has adopted a resolution calling on the public to rally behind the peace initiatives of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.
The group said they strongly oppose to the calls of the different sectors for President Aquino to resign from his post.
“We call on all Filipinos to rally behind him, to join hands together to support him to continue his crusade and quest for a true, meaningful peace not only for the Bangsamoro but for the entire nation,” the consortium said in a joint resolution adopted Friday.
The signatories of the joint resolution are the Philippine Council for Sama and Badjau; Mindanao Citizens Concern for Humanitarian; Federation of Bangsamoro Associations in Western Mindanao, Inc.; Bangsa Mo’ Ako; Eternal Youth; Kababaihan ng Mindanao para sa Kapayapaan at Kaunlaran; and, Mindanao Women, Widows and Orphans for Social Development and Rehabilitation.
The group said they are against war since nobody wins and there is no reason to go to war but to kill between and among brothers Filipinos.
They added that “war is horribly expensive,” in both human and material cost noting the Mindanao conflict claimed over 120,000 or more lives in a span of 40 years, and displaced over two million people, cause heavy economic losses to have been estimated by the world band at $10 billion between the year of 1975 and 2000.
“War will just enrich few individuals but it bankrupts the nation,” the consortium said.
The group said they strongly support President Aquino and his administration’s initiative “to achieve peace by all means.”
They said the country need good leaders like President Aquino, who love peace to reign and “the only President of this Republic who understand the plight of the Bangsamoro,” their hopes and aspirations.
“We support him (President Aquino) because we believe there is an iota of peace in his mind,” Philippine Council for Sama and Badjau Secretary-General Habib Kiram Kamaluddin said. (MindaNews