Interfaith Dialogue Opens Prospects for Peace in Mindanao

After weeks of turmoil due to the MILF rebel attack and the hot pursuit operations made by the Philippine military, the civil society and the provincial government launched its peace offensive to restore order and bring back the stale relations between coexisting Muslim and Christian populations in Kauswagan-the site of the 2000 "all out war" in the province of Lanao del Norte.

When the mechanics of the dialog was explained by civil society stalwart Musa Sanguila to a crowd of about 900, the Islamic religious leader was requested to pray with his group. The group stood and prayed while the Christians watched. While this was happening, some Christians stood up and prayed. The Evangelical religious leaders also stood up and prayed the Muslim way, with their palms opened.

When the Roman Catholics turn came, they all stood and prayed, but some Muslims also stood up and prayed with the Catholics. The same thing happened with the Evangelical group.

After the prayers and a brief explanation, a unified prayer was conducted by the Evangelicals led by a Pastor and Provincial Government Board Member Robert Matalines. The prayers seemed to have induced a sense of belongingness among the crowd composed of Muslims and Christians. When Matalines asked everyone to stand and face the people from different religions, there was a spontaneous reaction on the crowd to come together and greet each other, with most of the Christian and Muslim women embracing each other. The men too did the same. There were faces of gladness and faces with tears. It was a moving event. This was Kauswagan at its spiritual height, after a violent depression.

Following renewed attacks made by MILF Commander Bravo and his men on August 18, 2008 all the Peacebuilding efforts of the civil society and non-government organizations that were made for the past years, in cooperation with the local and provincial governments were all demolished in just two days of intense armed attack. It was back to square one.