Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo Sunday asked the Catholic faithful to pray during Easter for the success of the Citizens’ Peace Summit that President Benigno S. Aquino III has called to be convened to conduct a public discussion of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) and submit findings to Congress to assist in its consideration of the proposed law.
Cardinal Quevedo said the Peace Summit is a laudable move by the President in response to the crisis of public support for the BBL.
He said the group of five prominent personalities invited by the Chief Executive to convene the Peace Summit need public support in carrying out their mission to make Filipinos understand the Mindanao peace process better and assist Congress in deciding on the BBL.
“The work of the Peace Council initiated by the President is most laudable. Such effort needs our prayers and support and may the Lord bless their work for peace,” Quevedo said in his message sent to the Office of the Presidential Adviser to the Peace Process (OPAPP).
The five personalities asked by President Aquino to convene the Peace Summit are Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, former Ambassador Howard Dee, businessman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, and Muslim youth leader Bai Rohaniza Sumndad Usman.
Cardinal Quevedo, who is the first Roman Catholic cardinal in Mindanao, said the five personalities “are people of integrity and credibility.”
Their mission, he said, is “to conduct a sober and objective analysis of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law, identify provisions that may be contrary the Constitution, propose a refinement of them, ensuring that the self-determination long aspired for by Moros does not become an empty word.”
The five convenors recently issued a statement accepting the challenge to look into the provisions of the BBL.
Manila Bulletin
