Cardinal Quevedoand After Mamasapano, What?
Church • 20:51 PM Mon Mar 23, 2015
997
By:
Cotabato Archbishop His Eminence Orlando Cardinal Quevedo, OMI, DD
23 March 2015
Our Beloved Legislatorsand
Greetings of
peace in the Lord!
In the depths of
our grief for all the fallen combatants and civilians at Mamasapano, the deep
historic biases and prejudices that lie in the dark corners of our souls have
erupted once again. Truly we must seek the truth and justice. This search for
truth and the pursuit of justice must be done with objectivity and without
prejudgment. We need to gather all the facts from all sides, from civilian
witnesses, from combatants on both sides.
But in our grief
the Mamasapano tragedy has derailed the peace process. Questions and objections
have been raised against the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. This is expected
and it must be done so that the BBL will pass the criterion of
constitutionality and the common good of all.
Yet both peace
panels have been demonized. Judgments have been made about the BBL that the BBL
itself does not advocate. These judgments have misinformed the public about the
nature of the BBL and raised public opinion against a document that is the most
significant hope so far of a just and lasting peace in Southern
Mindanao.
As a Catholic
religious leader in Maguindanao, I have closely followed the peace negotiations
through the years, the drafting of the Comprehensive Agreement on the
Bangsamoro, and the drafting of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law. I have
thoroughly studied the BBL.
I perceive the
BBL as articulating three major principlesand the preservation of national
sovereignty, the safeguarding of national territorial integrity, and the
realization of Bangsamoro self-determination within a limited territory.
Contrary to
misinformation and misinterpretation the BBL does not advocate the dismemberment
of the Republic. It does not lay claim to all of Mindanao and Palawan.
It does not advocate the complete independence of any of the entities of the
proposed Bangsamoro government (e.g., police, auditing, accounting, civil
courts), such that their national counterparts have no effective role over
them.
By all means let
the BBL be refined and attuned to the Constitution.
1.
Let
legal and constitutional experts have a consensus on what is clearly illegal or
unconstitutional in the BBL. Let their wise words guide the rewording of
provisions.
2.
Each
provision of the BBL has been meticulously discussed by the peace panels
through several years at first with mistrust and hostility and then finally in
dialogue and trust. They know the whys and the wherefores of each provision. It
would be to the interest of the common good for them to explain the meaning and
the rationale of provisions that are questioned and objected to.
3.
Let
not the BBL be so emasculated that the centuries-old aspiration of the
Bangsamoro for self determination be made again a meaningless word.
I pray that the
Holy Spirit of God, the Spirit of wisdom, knowledge and counsel guide you in
your deliberations.
As the Catholic
religious leader of an Archdiocese that is 47% Muslim and 48% Catholic, I continue
to grieve profoundly over all the Mamasapano victims, aware that this horrible
human tragedy could have been avoided. I pray for all the fallen, the families,
the widows and children they left behind. I pray that such terrible human
tragedy will not happen again.
The message of
the Gospel of Jesus is one of Mercy and Compassion. Pope Francis announced it
to us with great force and personal witness. And the words of Micah the prophet
come to my mindand …what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
For me, a refined
BBL is about doing the truth and justice, walking in kindness and love, mercy
and compassion. This is the way of the heart, the way to a just and lasting
peace.
+Orlando B. Cardinal Quevedo, O.M.I.
Archbishop of Cotabato