(UPDATE) Tedurays offer prayers during IP simultaneous 'rituals for peace'

COTABATO CITY -Members of Indigenous Peoples simultaneously offered prayers Saturday noon in an effort to help bring about peace in troubled Maguindanao region that directly affects traditional communities.
Rebecca Mokudef, legal arbiter of the Teduray tribal groups of Maguindanao, said the ritual for peace was simultaneously performed in IP communities in Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato and Bukidnon provinces.
We want peace in Mindanao, we want to preserve our culture and tradition, we ask the Almighty to help us attain peace for we always suffer when armed conflicts erupt in our communities,” Mokudef said after the ritual at Cotabato City’s highest peak called Tawan-Tawan.”
She said the IPs support the passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law which will give the tri-people of mainland Mindanao – Muslim, Christians and Lumads (IPs) to right to govern themselves and exercise their right to self-determination.
The group performed its traditional prayer for peace, calling the Almighty to keep the IPs and all peoples of Mindanao safe from violence.
She said for decades the armed conflict has divided tribal communities due to displacement, destroying its traditional communities, customs and traditions.
It is difficult to be ejected from our homeland, our ancestral domain, slowly this is being destroyed by armed conflict, so we pray for a stop to forms of violenceso we can live peacefully,” she added.
Mokudef said the IP communities support the passage of Bangsamoro Basic Law that will create new political entity in Mindanao where the IP communities are located.
We want to maintain our culture and tradition even with the establishment of Bangsamoro government. We desire for peace that will allow us to govern ourselves and freely practice our traditional laws,” said Mokudef who was a known arbiter of conflicts using traditional and diplomatic ways of resolving misunderstanding among Tedurays.
The ritual was simultaneously performed at 12 noon in at least 50 IP communities in Central Mindanao region.