"Soldiers are sacrificing comforts, liberty and lives" --Col. De Leon

Speech delivered by
COL. BENITO T. DE LEON INF (GSC) PA, Comdr, 104th Inf (Sultan) Bde, 1ID, PA during the Pagana Maranao in Celebration of Eid’l Adha at Elena Tower, Iligan city.
The activity was initiated by the Office of the Maranao, Higaonon and Other Cultural Communities (OMaHCC) under the City Mayor's Office.
Theme: Peace Through Reconciliation.”
Elena Tower Inn, Tibanga, Iligan City/110900 December 2008.
This is belatedly posted although the theme remains relevant in these times.


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Assallamu Alaikum. Maayong Iligan.
May I greet all of you today especially the political, traditional, and religious leaders representing the Christians, Higa-unons, and Muslims communities who are here in the celebration of “Eid’l Adha” or the Day of Sacrifice. I am, indeed, honored to speak before this gathering to contribute to a priority program of City Mayor Lawrence Cruz in promoting understanding, harmony, peace, and ultimately economic prosperity between the diverse cultural and religious groups particularly here in Iligan City.
“Peace through reconciliation”—the theme for this occasion—to my mind, is a fitting approach if we are to attain unity of purpose in attaining our goals despite our religious and cultural diversity. This attitude is workable as it is proven and observable in our own military organization. You will note that your military, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, is composed of peoples coming from the various ethno-cultural and religious backgrounds. It is a mix, among many others, of the Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Pangasinenses, Bicolanos from Luzon; the Warays, Illonggos, and Cebuanos from the Visayas; and, the Maranaos, Maguindanaoans, Tausugs, and Lumads including Higa-unons from Mindanao. All of these hold varied beliefs of the many Christian sects, Islam, and others. Despite this mixture, your military is harmoniously united in serving its purpose of protecting the Filipino people. Your Armed Forces have also contributed in attaining peace through reconciliation with its acceptance and integration of the former Moro National Liberation Front or the MNLF separatists into its ranks. These demonstrate that peace can be attained if we do exert an effort to understand others and seek harmony. All these must, however, start in seeking to understand and in seeking harmony with our inner selves, before we can then extend to aspire understanding and harmony with others.
This Day of Sacrifice has another significance to the soldiers as military professionals. Similarly, as the Almighty tested the faith of Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his most beloved son, your soldiers are also asked to sacrifice their comfort and liberty even their lives, if need be, to serve the Filipino people. Their sense of patriotism is driven only with faith in the capacity their leaders. Such faith or strength of spirit is drawn only from the hope and inspiration more so their faith in our government and the Almighty that their loved ones and the citizens of the Philippine Republic will enjoy the fruits of their sacrifices.
And so as we commemorate this Day of Sacrifice or “Eid’l Adha,” let us once more bring to mind the lesson of Abraham’s agonizing test of sacrifice. We can all add more meaning to this occasion by taking a sacrificial step in seeking to understand and reconcile with ourselves and eventually with others for the ends of peace and prosperity in our land. We must do this now with a strong faith in our leaders and passionate faith in our people for the hope of a better tomorrow for all of us now and the future generations.
Maayong Iligan. Wassallam.