Mindanao Week of Peace celebrate through conferences, historical journeys

ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews/19 November) -- Religious leaders and civil society will celebrate Mindanao Week of Peace with historical journeys, peace convergences and fora on rights, environment and security. This year’s week of peace theme is “Think Mindanao, Feel Mindanao and Bring Peace to Mindanao.”

The Mindanao Week of Peace is an annual activity that was initiated in Zamboanga City by Peace Advocates Zamboanga Foundation, Inc. (PAZ) and SALAM Foundation in 1997. It later snowballed into a Mindanao-wide event as adopted by the Bishops-Ulama Conference and became an annual activity as mandated by Presidential Proclamation 127 in 2001.

Interfaith religious leaders of Iligan City will start the celebration on November 26 with a prayer rally which will be attended by Muslim and Christian leaders, said Arlene Dinoyo, of the office of the BUC here.

Dinoyo said there will also be convergence of interfaith communities in Tubod, Lanao del Norte.

Juanito Enriquez Jr., program officer of the Civil Society for Peace and Democracy (CSPD), said peace advocates in Iligan will host a forum on disaster risk reduction on December 2 which will be participated by representatives of government agencies, food chains and non-government organizations.

“A forum on women, human rights and security will also be done,” Enriquez said. [More at MindaNews]